


It's Hero Time!

by pyro_technic



Category: Ben 10 Series, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Kendou Itsuka, BAMF Recovery Girl, Bakugou Katsuki Swears A Lot, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Gen, I mean seriously there's an OC and he has the Omnitrix WHAT DID YOU EXPECT, My First Work in This Fandom, My OC has the Omnitrix, Rath is a badass, Ships may come later, What Have I Done, though frankly everyone is a BAMF to some degree, though my username is pyro-technic242 there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-01
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-11-07 12:14:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 22,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17960306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyro_technic/pseuds/pyro_technic
Summary: Kyosuke Kirihara! Quirk: Super Saiyan! While it may seem like a really powerful Quirk from the name, it is only called that because it makes Kyosuke’s hair look exactly like a Super Saiyan’s, except white instead of blond! His Quirk also makes his hair entirely free of dandruff, as well as naturally thick and surprisingly soft! An extremely convenient Quirk for looking good!Despite the uselessness of his Quirk in combat, a young Kyosuke is determined to become a hero, no matter the hardships he may face.One day, he finds his ticket to doing so in the form of a thin, green-and-black watch.





	1. Chapter 1

** Chapter One **

 “…forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty!”

A fourteen-year-old boy puffed in triumph as he finished his workout for the day, before promptly flopping down on the soft grass of the park he was at and sighing loudly. Passers-by glanced at him in amusement, briefly, before hurrying on their way to wherever they needed to be.

The boy remained on the ground for a while, taking the time to relax his muscles and even his breathing. He had done well today, having completed his workout in a timely manner, while not having stopped or taken more breaks than his schedule allowed. After about a minute, he stood up and, grabbing his water bottle and a towel, started making his way back home.

His name was Kyosuke Kirihara, and, like many boys his age, it was his dream to be a hero. Unlike most boys his age, however, he worked every day to make that dream a reality. And unlike many more boys his age, he planned to do it without having a useful Quirk.

Okay, maybe it was a little unfair to call it ‘not useful’. After all, his Quirk let him save money that would have otherwise been used on shampoo, conditioner, haircuts and perhaps even hair gel, and to an orphan like Kyosuke, any money saved was a blessing. His Quirk _was_ useful… just not for his dream to become a hero. That was why he studied hard every day, worked at a part-time job twice every week for an hour, and trained every free minute he had. Considering this was a Saturday, and his final exams had just ended, he was literally drowning in free minutes. So, he’d headed out after his afternoon shift had ended, and spent two hours on calisthenics, running, and practicing martial arts against invisible opponents.

Now, however? He planned to go up to his government-funded, one-bedroom apartment, bathe, eat some Endeavor’s Fiery Eggs (which was really just a recipe for insanely spicy scrambled eggs on toast) and head to bed.

Kyosuke was smiling at the thought of the Fiery Eggs (they were his favourite meal) as he scaled the stairs taking him to his apartment, when he noticed-

His apartment door was unlocked.

_‘What the hell?’_ he thought to himself, mentally reviewing whether he’d locked his door before heading out. He _had_ locked his door, and he’d brought his key card with him, in his pocket. So why was it unlocked?

Steeling himself, he pushed it wider open. His apartment was dark, and he relaxed slowly. Maybe he had forgotten to close the door fully- how silly of him. He flicked the lights on and instantly jumped into the air with a surprised squawk.

A man dressed in a lab coat was sitting in his living room, if you could even call it that. It was just a small space containing his desk, a small table on which he ate, and a chair (on which a man he _didn’t_ _know_ was sitting!!). Two doors on the left and front led to a bathroom and bedroom, respectively.

“Who the hell are you, and what are you doing in my house!” Kyosuke shouted angrily, regaining his composure with alacrity and assuming a fighting stance.

The man seemed amused. He looked to be in his late forties, with black hair and grey sideburns. His lab coat was rumpled, and he wore black trousers and brown loafers. His hazel eyes twinkled enigmatically, giving him the air of a man who knew too much and has seen too much.

“Calm yourself, young man- I do not intend to harm you,” he spoke in a cultured voice, holding his hands up peaceably. This did not reassure Kyosuke in the slightest. “Explain why you’re here, first!”

“I shall, in a moment. Gumball?” the man (or professor? He looked a little like a professor) held out a paper bag he had apparently conjured up out of nowhere. The boy stared at it uncomprehendingly, before snarling. “Look, I don’t know why you’re here, and I honestly don’t care, but if you don’t get out of my house right now, I will call the police. What’s your name?”

“It is prudent to offer your name before asking for someone else’s,” the man popped a blue gumball into his mouth, unfazed by the rudeness and hostility he was being shown.

“Don’t you know it, already?” Kyosuke said, now more cautious than angry. “ _You_ were the one to come here and confront _me_.”

“True, true,” chuckled the man, leaving the boy with a feeling like he’d just passed a test. “Ah, there is so much I wish to tell you, so much I need to explain, but now is not the right moment…” he sighed sadly, before getting up. At his full height, he was a head taller than Kyosuke. “My name is Gyakusetsu-sensei. Unfortunately, that is all I can tell you, right now…”

With surprising agility, he made for Kyosuke’s arm. The boy tried to duck, to counter, but all of a sudden, bright green light filled the room, almost blinding him. “Ahhh!” he screamed, as a warm, blooming pain filled his body. His arm was being clutched tightly, something that felt liquid and rubbery stretching itself over his left wrist. “Ahhhh!!”

“You will soon understand,” promised the man, Gyakusetsu-sensei, who was now…fading? All feeling left his body, and he slumped forward. “You will understand when the time comes, Kirihara-kun…”

“Use the Omnitrix wisely.”

That was the last thing Kyosuke heard before his world went black.

  

* * *

 

 

Kyosuke jolted awake, gasping.

There was no one in the room.

He was on his futon, sunshine was streaming through his window, and there was no sign of Gyakusetsu-sensei. Where was he now? More importantly, _who_ was he?

He rolled over, checking the time on his cheap alarm clock. 6:12 am, not too far from his usual wake-up time. Besides, it was a Sunday; he didn’t need to worry about school for the time being, which left him with only the events of last night to worry about.

“Okay,” Kyosuke said aloud, rolling over as he got out of his futon. “I had a tiring evening, a man I don’t know showed up, he grabbed my arm, and I woke up.”

Wait a minute… he held up his left arm briefly, and was left sputtering in astonishment. A watch, a green and black watch with black triangles connected at their points (in place of a display of the time), and what looked like a grey dial, was resting on his wrist. Kyosuke stared at it in shock before attempting to pry it off.

_‘It won’t budge!’_ he thought in irritation. God dammit, couldn’t Gyakusetsu-sensei have at least explained why he had stuck a watch (a pretty cool-looking watch, but a watch nonetheless) that didn’t even tell the time on his wrist? It couldn’t even come off, which was a great pity. He stood out enough with his hair.

Whilst fiddling with it, he inadvertently pressed the weird grey dial-like things either side of the watch, causing the watch-face to rise up and display a green hologram of what looked like… a humanoid alien with a flaming head? Kyosuke jerked backward in surprise. What did this even mean? What could this watch do?

“Let’s see...” he mumbled, “what would _this_ do?”

He pressed the watch face back down.

Instantly his body started to contort, not painfully, but to a very great degree. He yelled in shock as he grew almost ten inches taller, his ribcage expanding and shoulder girdle widening. His muscles convoluted, his skin turning a deep, marshy green, and a slightly smelly gas started wafting off his body. When the transformation was over, he stared around the room in shock, before running to the bathroom to have a look at himself.

“Good God,” he murmured, his voice nasally and much deeper. He looked like an exact replica of the hologram of the alien the watch had showcased, earlier. Was this what the watch (the _Omnitrix_ , Gyakusetsu-sensei had called it) could do? Turn him into aliens, like this creature?

That…didn’t sound so bad. A smile grew on his (the alien’s) face. That didn’t sound bad at all. That actually sounded pretty cool. If these aliens, like the one he had become, had special powers, like how humans had Quirks, what could he do? The sky was the limit! He had the power to become a hero, and not just any hero; a hero that could emerge as the best!

_‘Okay, slow down, now,_ ’ he chided himself. _‘Let’s see what this guy can do, first of all…’_

He examined himself, from head to toe, and noticed something interesting- holes on his palms, that seemed to penetrate through his arms and until his torso. An idea emerged in his head; a crazy, almost stupid idea. Maybe, if he focused-?

It felt insane. It _was_ insane. This whole situation was the most insane thing he had gone through, ever. However, he held his hands out, and focused.

Immediately, a stream of fire burst from his palms. He had guessed correctly- the gas was methane, and he had the power to produce and ignite it at will! Kyosuke shut off the stream of fire, laughing. He was literally a living swamp!

“Oh, I know!” he smiled. “I’ll call this guy…Swampfire!”

Buoyed with new confidence, he snatched up his key card and sped out the door. It was too early for the neighbourhood to notice a big green swamp-thing escape Kyosuke Kirihara’s apartment, anyhow, and he had the perfect destination in mind to test out his new powers.

_‘I can’t believe this,’_ he thought, as he ran. _‘I’m an_ alien _!’_

 

* * *

 

Reaching Dagobah Municipal Beach on foot would have ordinarily taken Kyosuke twenty minutes if he was walking, and about ten if he was running. It took Swampfire about five, and by the time he’d arrived, he wasn’t even winded.

“Amazing,” he smiled. He felt powerful, a hundred times more powerful than as his normal human self. Was this how his classmates felt, all the time, when they used their Quirks? Was this how _he_ felt, when he used his Quirk to decimate whatever stood in his path?

Swampfire halted in front of a large trash heap. This trash heap, one among several of its brothers and sisters, was the reason Dagobah Municipal Beach was generally avoided and left empty. He didn’t know who had been responsible for the trash, but it exuded such a strong smell of ammonia, and generally looked so unpleasant, that it spoiled the entire ambience of the otherwise quite beautiful beach. This also made it the perfect location for kids playing hooky from school, teenagers wanting to kill some time in solitude, or certain aliens who wanted to test out their powers.

_‘And the smell doesn’t even bother me. I smell_ worse _than the trash!’_ he thought to himself.

Swampfire took a deep breath, before holding out his palms and concentrating. A much larger stream of flame erupted, this time, going until about six meters before stopping. He stopped, before forming a fireball in his hand and launching it. About the size of a baseball, it went quite a distance before hitting the sand and snuffing itself out with a small explosion.

He tried again, this time attempting to push out as much fire as he could. This resulted in a large wave of orange flames that bathed his surroundings in heat.

“Wow…” he sighed out loud. However, he wasn’t satisfied just yet. He sensed, somehow, that he could do more than mere pyrotechnics.

Kyosuke held out his hand one more time, and concentrated. He was rewarded by the production of various seeds that scattered all over the ground. They responded to his will, growing into thick, thorny vines that contorted and twisted exactly like he imagined them to. He imagined them wrapping around a nearby refrigerator, and the vines obeyed. They lunged at and coiled around the massive structure with exceptional speed, lifting it with little strain and placing it on a nearby ledge, where a garbage truck could, he knew, pick it up.

Swampfire shook his head in amazement. This device…it was truly incredible.

Speaking of which, was there a way he could turn back into his human form? A sudden worry gripped him. Was this transformation permanent? He highly doubted it, but it was possible. Foolishly, he’d assumed that this would only be temporary, at the beginning, without considering every possibility. What if he remained as Swampfire forever? He had quite liked the feeling of turning into, and being, the alien, but he would be in quite a large amount of trouble if the transformation was permanent.

“Wait a second,” Swampfire growled aloud, having for the first time noticed the watch symbol on his chest. He tapped it, and instantly, in a burst of green light, he was Kyosuke again, barefoot and still in his workout clothes from the last day.

“Whoa, that was intense,” he said, exhausted from his brief sojourn as Swampfire, but thrilled. _‘If I can master this watch- the Omnitrix, what other possibilities are in store for me?’_ he thought. Almost instinctively, he brought up the watch face again, selected another hologram, and slapped down on it.

And just like this, he had taken, without realizing it, his first step to becoming the Number One Hero.

 

* * *

 

 

A week had passed since Kyosuke had acquired the watch from Gyakusetsu-sensei.

(Who had that guy been? Why had he given him the Omnitrix? Such questions still plagued Kyosuke’s mind. He had tried Googling ‘Gyakusetsu-sensei’, and the best he could get was that the name, when translated to English, was literally ‘Professor Paradox’.)

 It was so weird. This whole situation was _so_ weird. However, he had no doubts about one thing- the Omnitrix could help him become a great hero.

After a week of doing nothing except testing the Omnitrix’s limits and figuring out its powers, he had realized some useful things about it.

It would keep him transformed into an alien for about twenty-five minutes, give or take, after which it would flash red and turn him back into his human form. It would continue glowing red for about fifteen minutes- during which he would be unable to use its powers- and then, it would turn green again. He could also switch from alien to alien by tapping the Omnitrix symbol, without turning back into Kyosuke, but doing it too many times could drain the battery more quickly.

It had ten aliens, each with its own unique powerset, and Kyosuke had made names for each of them. Some aliens were much more of situational swords than anything else, while some others could be used at any given time, to resolve any given situation.

Of course, he had not slacked off on his personal training- he couldn’t rely on the Omnitrix all the time. After all, what kind of a hero relied on his Quirk all the time? He had tested his limits by turning into different aliens and trying out his martial moves as them, with some aliens being more receptive to his moves than others. He would have to adapt his fighting style to match the physiology of each alien, to bring out their maximum potential.

Such thoughts plagued Kyosuke’s mind as he sat down for evening homeroom in Class 3-A, Orudera Junior High School. The appearance of his (frankly uninteresting, and uninterested) teacher did nothing to quell the whispering around the classroom; only a sharp rap on the blackboard did that.

“Here are your midterm exam papers,” the teacher- Nagaiude-sensei- mumbled. “Come and receive them when your name is called. Akihisa-kun!”

The aforementioned student got up from his seat, wincing as his eyes passed over his marks. Nagaiude-sensei continued, calling out name after name. Hardly any student looked happy or even satisfied with their results- only one, a blond-haired boy, grinned sharply as his test papers were revealed. Katsuki Bakugou had been, after all, the topper during their second year, except for Kyosuke himself.

“Kirihara-kun!”

The white-haired boy smoothed out his uniform and got up from his seat, receiving his test results without a murmur. He smiled once, briefly, as he saw the large one-hundred written in red ink over his topmost paper (Math), and the rest of the numbers all starting with nine and ending with no less than two.

As he returned to his seat, he heard many students whispering, but elected to ignore it. He knew that his life was considered something of a tragic story; it was well known that he wanted to be a hero, but literally no one believed he could be one. He had a useless Quirk, after all- and that was all his worth was judged by. The tragedy lied in the fact that he worked hard every day and received top marks in every test, all in his pursuit of becoming a hero, yet he could apparently never become one no matter how hard he tried.

“One-hundred percent in Math again, that Kirihara…”

“Why does he work so hard? There is no chance of him becoming a hero, at all!”

“Good for him! He has something other than his hair that’s good.” Snickers erupted from this snide remark, made by one of Bakugou’s lackeys, the one with long nails. Kyosuke ignored them all. They didn’t need or deserve his attention.

“Now,” mumbled his teacher, bringing out a bunch of pamphlets as everyone took their seats, “I’m supposed to tell you about all the different streams you can pursue in senior high…but who cares!” With a sudden exuberance, he threw the pamphlets into the air. “You all want to go into heroics, anyway!”

A multitude of cheers greeted this sentiment, students showcasing their Quirks left and right. Long necks, fire breath, bubble production, and rock hair, among others. In the midst of this, Kyosuke simply raised his hand, and waited for quiet.

Except there wasn’t any quiet.

“Oi, oi, don’t group me in with these losers,” laughed Bakugou as he stood up from his seat in front of Kyosuke (who simply rolled his eyes as everyone else recoiled in fear and awe). “I’m gonna be the Number One Hero, that’ll surpass All Might and every other nobody! You extras are nothing but stepping stones for me!”

Several students cringed and backed away. Others started arguing with the boy. Kyosuke just ignored all of them.

“I’ve already taken the U.A mock test, and I _aced_ it!” Bakugou continued to shout gleefully. Nagaiude-sensei nodded diffidently to confirm his statement, which shocked and impressed the students. “I’ll be the _only_ noteworthy hero to emerge from this shitty school!”

“Oh, didn’t Kirihara-kun apply to U.A, as well?” Nagaiude-sensei’s follow-up statement silenced the room immediately. Kyosuke groaned loudly as the students turned towards him, breaking out into expostulations almost instantly afterward.

“Kirihara did? To _U.A_?”

“He must be out of his mind!”

“I mean, I want to become a hero as much as the next guy, but I ain’t _stupid_ …”

“Dude,” snickered the same lackey who had made the crack about Kyosuke’s Quirk, “do you think they’ll accept him ‘coz he looks good? I mean, look at that hair!” This received laughs throughout the room, and prompted Kyosuke to finally look at the boy, narrowing his eyes.

“No,” he said quietly, hushing the students. “They’ll accept me, because I know how to fight, I get good grades, and because I’m ready to do whatever it takes to become a hero. How were _your_ grades, again?” _Oohs_ filtered through the room as the lackey- he had never bothered to remember his name- went pink.

Bakugou stalked over to his desk, slamming a flaming palm on it. Kyosuke did not react, only looking up at him with half-closed eyes. “So, you’re fucking applying to U.A, like you said you would?”

Kyosuke nodded. “I am.”

Bakugou grinned. “That’s good. You’d better make it in so I can murder your ass, you fucking bastard.” The other boy couldn’t help but grin as well- Bakugou’s tenacity was infectious. The rest of the students watched in astonishment. Had Bakugou actually _encouraged_ someone? And _hadn’t_ called him an extra? And _Kirihara_ , of all people?

The blond sat back down, prompting the teacher to say, “That will be all. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Kyosuke sighed in relief, picking up his bag and putting his books into it, one by one, as everyone else filed out, talking among themselves and ignoring the white-haired boy. All, that is, except three people.

“Think you’re such hot shit, do you?” The angry snarl came from the lackey, who had approached him and slammed a hand on his desk. Kyosuke looked up, unimpressed at the show of power. Besides the long-nailed boy, there was the fat one with red wings, who was sneering at him, and Bakugou himself, who was looking at him emotionlessly. Kyosuke looked back at the seething boy and frowned slightly. “What’s your problem?”

The boy suddenly smiled. “My _problem_ is Quirkless fucks like you thinking they’re the next big thing, when in reality they’re just nerds and teacher’s pets. You wanna be a hero, you jerk?”

Kyosuke raised his eyebrow. “I’m not Quirkless.”

“Oh right, I forgot,” laughed the lackey, and spat on the mass of white hair on Kyosuke’s scalp. “Having a _bad hair_ _day_?”

In an instant, the boy had risen from his seat, grabbed the long-nailed bastard, punched him twice on the jaw hard enough to bruise, before kneeing him and pinning him against the wall. “Apologize!” Kyosuke shouted furiously. “Apologize, and maybe I won’t take this to the principal!”

“Fucking- I’m sorry, I’m sorry, let me the fuck go!” the lackey shouted. Red Wings behind him was gibbering fearfully, and Bakugou had tensed, but was doing nothing. Kyosuke squeezed tightly enough to nearly pop the boy’s arm from its socket before letting him go in disgust. “You ought to be taught a lesson. Still feel that I can’t become a hero, you ass?”

The lackey did not respond.

Kyosuke shuddered in disgust as the rather large glob of spit started dripping down his neck. Rushing to the bathroom (ignoring Red Wings and nodding briefly at Bakugou), he managed to wash it off with the aid of four tissues, lukewarm water and ten minutes. He took one more minute to calm down, before heading out the bathroom and out of school. He took a moment to consider that no one had seen or commented on the Omnitrix, and mulled over it to take his mind off of the incident. Well, better for him; he could put off thinking up awkward explanations until later. Kyosuke yawned widely, feeling his jaw almost crack from the strain. It had been a long day, and he was ready to just go home.

As he made his way underneath a bridge, he noticed a slight movement out of the corner of his eye. Suspicious, he looked around, seeing nothing except a drain through which greenish-brown mud was leaking. He looked around some more. Something…wasn’t right.

A sudden, swift movement behind him made him gasp. The slime had shot out of the drain in a tidal wave of stink and mud, two jaundiced eyeballs maliciously gazing at him. Kyosuke instinctively moved backward, activating his watch, but the slime was much faster.

“Stop struggling,” it whispered, gargled, as it wrapped itself around him. He gasped and sputtered, the stink enveloping him completely. “Well, well, well…here I was looking for a good body to take for a brief ride, and here you come. Quite the looker, aren’t you?”

“Get…off me!” gasped Kyosuke. He couldn’t breathe properly, couldn’t see anything, couldn’t think about anything except _getting_ _away,_ _getting_ _away_ …

“Jeez, kid!” the villain laughed as he tried to tear himself free. “I’m only borrowing your body for a minute or so, there’s no need to get all worked up!”

Only one thing to do. Turning the dial and slapping down the Omnitrix’s watch face, green light started to erupt from his body. The slime villain roared in shock as the boy’s body began to change, peach skin moulding into pink and purple crystal, going thinner and taller.

**_“Chromastone!”_** the boy (alien?) yelled, his confidence restored by the change. “Time to send you to hell, villain!” he growled as his hands glowed with rainbow-coloured energy.

“What _are_ you?!” the slime gargled in shock, clearly not having expected this at all. It screamed as the crystalline humanoid peppered it with bolts of light, sizzling its liquiform body. Chromastone didn’t keep up the barrage for much longer, though- he threw up a large beam of brightness and changed back to human form, snatching up his bag and running.

“You won’t get away!!” yowled the slime villain, chasing after him.

“ **No,** ” came a new voice, one that Kyosuke _recognized_. Instantly, his heart lightened, and relief spread through his body-

_He was here._

“ **It is _you_ who won’t get away, villain! HA HA** **HA** **HAA!** ”

A hulking man, with blond hair like golden waves and a smile that could light up the Sun charged into the underpass with terrifying speed. It was all Kyosuke could do to not get blown away as All Might, the current Number One Hero and venerated as the Symbol of Peace, pulled back his fist and punched outward.

“ **Close your eyes, young man!** **Texas _…Smash!_** ”

The next thing Kyosuke heard (he had done as All Might had asked, and shut his eyes) was the screech of the slime villain as it was blasted into hundreds of drops of stinking sludge by All Might’s simple, yet devastating special move. Several moments of quiet passed before he dared to open his eyes once more.

The underpass was completely free of sludge- apparently, All Might’s attack had been enough to defeat the villain, surmised Kyosuke. Speaking of which…Kyosuke turned around to see the Number One Hero screwing the lid of a plastic bottle (in which floated a single bloodshot eyeball in green slime) on firmly. It was all the boy could do not to start fanboying, right then and there.

“…uh, All Might-san,” called Kyosuke quietly. He didn’t ask whether All Might was okay, or whether the slime villain had hurt him. “Is…is it safe now?”

“Why, yes!” chuckled the hero, turning towards Kyosuke and grinning. “I must say, young man, I was quite impressed with the way you handled my Texas Smash. Not many people are still awake after experiencing it, even from the side, you know? **Very** **nice!** ” All Might flashed a thumbs-up at him.

Kyosuke reddened at the praise. At least, he didn’t seem to be making any mention of Chromastone, which saved him the trouble of explaining exactly how he could turn into a sentient being made of precious (or so he thought) crystals, that could also shoot rainbow lasers. “Um, All Might-san, could I get your-?”

“Already done!” He picked up Kyosuke’s English notebook from his (open) bag and flipped to the last page, where a signature, complete with little stars and stripes, was done in thick black pen. _‘This guy is totally Number One! He thinks of every detail!’_ Kyosuke thought to himself gushingly.

“Now I really must be going, young man!” All Might prepared to leap into the air, and Kyosuke didn’t stop him. He only called out, “I’m a big fan, All Might!” as the hero sped away with two bottles full of slime villain, as a gesture of support, before moving on his way. He had been planning to hit the dojo after dropping off his things- he really needed a distraction after all of today’s events, after all- but he was quite tired.

All he would do now was sleep.

* * *

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The U.A Entrance Exam happens, and Kyosuke makes a few new friends in the process.

** Chapter Two **

The sea was calm, the sand soft underneath his feet. Kyosuke took a deep breath, and let it out slowly, relaxing his muscles gently. Since he had got the Omnitrix, he had made Dagobah Municipal Beach his training ground, where no one would see him, and discover his powers. He had also grown several inches taller and lost the last of his baby fat, and bulked up noticeably, though his stature was still quite lean.

Ten months had passed since the Slime Villain incident. These ten months had been the longest months of his life, and had consequently not been easy for Kyosuke, for a single, simple reason.

The U.A entrance exam.

The thought of the exam looming nearer and nearer with each passing day had spurred him to master not just the watch, but his own martial skill and physical attributes. He had put in much more work at the dojo, practicing technique after technique under his sensei’s watchful eye. He’d somehow kept up his studies as well, often burning the midnight oil as he struggled with the immense load of homework and tests that seemed to be perennial while at Orudera Junior High. More than once, he had inadvertently drowsed in class, only for someone to wake him up. Usually, it was a student, but sometimes, much to his displeasure, it was the teacher.

He’d also noticed Bakugou come into class with bleary eyes and smoking palms several times. He was clearly training every day, pushing himself past his limits and not letting it break him. It was because of this, and the fact that Bakugou’s grades still more or less equalled his, that Kyosuke couldn’t help but admire him, and wish to surpass him.

(For he knew that the blond boy had to bear a weight he himself did not- and that was the weight of everyone else’s expectations. The principal himself had lauded Bakugou publicly, during a school assembly, and while his classmates had cheered loudly for the boy (who would surely give Orudera-and subsequently, them- some publicity for entering U.A), Kyosuke had pitied Bakugou, for all the expectations being forced on him.)

_‘Well, it isn’t as if Bakugou will fail to meet them,’_ thought Kyosuke idly _, ‘he’s a monster when it comes to anything to do with combat, tactics, and battle technique.’_

For all of this, however, Kyosuke still didn’t plan on losing to Bakugou. He had the power of ten heroes flowing through him, and he had more or less figured out everything they could do. Some of their powers had shocked him when he’d realized their existence, a good example being Swampfire’s regeneration. He could still remember the astonishment he had felt upon feeling an iron bar go through his torso, and exit sans any injury, permanent or otherwise. Of course, it had hurt at first, but there hadn’t been any lasting pain- something he _still_ didn’t understand. Swampfire could get lasting damage from blunt attacks, after all.

Anyway, all of that was behind him, now. Kyosuke opened his eyes slowly, feeling his body fill itself with the light of purpose and drive, as the sun bled into the horizon and red light spilled across the sea.

It had always been going to be a bit of a gamble, taking an entrance exam to a school as prestigious and difficult to get into as U.A. Not only was Kyosuke with a useless Quirk, he was also, as aforementioned, an orphan. His parents had died when he was twelve, leaving him to the care of his guardian (who was almost never present and unable to provide for his education anyway) and the government, which had put him in a small apartment and declared to fund his education until high school, considering his guardian wasn’t able to do it. He’d rebuilt his life, bit by bit, all the while silently nurturing a single dream- to become a hero.

It was a gamble. A _huge_ gamble. If he failed the exam, he would never be able to become a hero- simply because he couldn’t apply to any hero school by transfer. It simply wasn’t allowed- hero schools spent enough money on normal entrance exams. To go through all of that trouble again, for a single student? Unheard of.

He would be forced to apply to normal high schools, and let his dream lie forgotten in the deserts of time.

If he succeeded, however…the world was at his fingertips.

He had come this far, and he refused to turn back now. The U.A entrance exam was the next day, and he was determined to give it everything he possessed.

_‘It’s time to finally become a Hero.’_

* * *

 It was eight thirty in the morning. The weather was slightly warm, as expected of an April day in Japan. Kyosuke was outside the entrance of U.A (which was _so_ much more imposing than in the pictures!), and dressed in his middle school uniform (a black _gakuran_ and trousers), carrying a bag full of written material he had brought for some quick revision, as well as his tracksuit (a white shirt and navy pants under a navy half-sleeved jacket), a _bento_ , and lastly, his key card.

He took a deep breath, slowly clearing the tension in his body. ‘ _Relax_ ,’ he thought to himself, ‘ _relax. You’ve trained hard, you’ve studied hard. It’s going to be okay.’_

“Oi, shithead!” an angry voice came behind him, a voice he knew quite well indeed.

“Bakugou,” he greeted cautiously, as the boy stalked over to him. Ignoring the greeting, the blond simply poked a finger at his chest. “Are you fucking prepared?”

Kyosuke blinked. What kind of question was that?

“I asked you something, asshole.”

“Right!” he realized. “Yes, as much as I’ll ever be, I guess.”

“Good,” grunted Bakugou, backing away and from Kyosuke, almost instantly. “I expect you to fucking pass, got it? Useless Quirk or no, you’re passing this exam, and then I’m gonna pound your skull into the pavement first chance I fucking get.”

Kyosuke rolled his eyes exasperatedly as Bakugou stalked off. While the brief encounter had been full of vulgarity and insults directed at him without recompense, it had been oddly refreshing to have Bakugou speak to him like a rival, like an _equal_. He didn’t even know about the Omnitrix, and yet here he was, showing him his equivalent of unfaltering faith.

He started slightly as someone tapped him on his shoulder from behind. Turning, he was welcomed by the sight of someone, unlike last time, completely unknown to him. She had vivid, orange hair tied up in a side ponytail, as well as pale skin and striking green eyes. The girl- who by her uniform was from a middle school decidedly more prestigious than Orudera- peered at him in concern. “Are you all right? Was that guy being a jerk to you?”

Kyosuke shook his head immediately, “I’m all right,” he reassured her. “He’s an acquaintance of mine from middle school, and he wasn’t being a jerk- just offering words of encouragement.”

“It looked like he was. Being a jerk, I mean,” the girl confessed. Her lips curved upwards in a slight smile. “I’m Itsuka Kendou.”

“Kyosuke Kirihara.”

A slightly awkward silence ensued between them (but in Kyosuke’s defence, he wasn’t very social. He had no idea how to carry out a conversation with anyone at all). Finally, Kendou broke the silence by saying, “Well…good luck, Kirihara-kun.”

“Oh, you too, Kendou-san.”

She smiled, once more, and departed.

Kyosuke smiled to himself, before taking a purposeful step forward. 

* * *

 

The written exam was composed of six parts: Math, Science, Japanese, English, History and General Knowledge. While the first five were all middle school level subjects (granted, the questions were not as easy as they would have been for a normal high school entrance exam) the sixth was, obviously, a little trickier, and no doubt the one section that was causing the most grief and heartbreak to every student in the entrance exam hall. By General Knowledge, U.A apparently didn’t just mean general knowledge of heroics. It meant general knowledge and _forming your own opinions_ of heroics, and putting it all on paper, which meant being up-to-date on even the most recent developments of heroic society and sometimes even doing intensive research on certain incidents in history. Kyosuke knew this, having given the mock tests before.

_Q.23) Japan is taking the United States of America’s place as the epicentre of the heroics industry. Give your opinions on this in no less than 500 words, citing relevant examples from history and current affairs to supplement your answer._

Kyosuke read the newspaper every day, and had prepared for such questions anyway, so instead of panicking, he confidently picked up his pen, turned to a fresh page, and started to write in neat, sharp kanji.

_With the presence of such heroes such as the Symbol of Peace, All Might, and the Flame Hero, Endeavour, it is undoubted that Japan has a stolid brace of heroes to protect her…_

He went on for a while, making corrections and annotations, and once even adding a citation to supplement a remark that the examiner could perhaps perceive as slightly arbitrary. Once he was satisfied, he laid down his pen and stretched his fingers, just as the bell signifying fifteen minutes of the exam remaining went off. He picked up his paper and read through his answers, over and over, after which he raised his hand and said, “Please, sensei…I’m finished.”

The proctor, a skinny blond man- Yagi-sensei, his name was- looked up and smiled kindly. “Thank you, Kirihara-kun,” he said softly. “You may go and prepare for the practical portion of the exam.”

Kyosuke nodded, fetching his bag and heading out into the hallway. He had twenty minutes to eat his _bento_ (Endeavour’s Fiery Eggs and rice) in the designated area before he would need to head into the auditorium and be briefed about the practical exam.

He walked into a wide space, noticing several chattering students comparing answers and eating from their own _bento_ \- sometimes at the same time. He looked around for an empty place where he could sit, and, finding one, he made for it. As he was just about to sit down and start eating, however, he bumped into another person- one having orange hair. His heart quickened slightly. “Kendou-san,” he acknowledged as the girl looked at him in surprise, before smiling widely. “Kirihara-kun! Is…is it okay if I sit with you?”

He looked at her in surprise, before nodding. “Okay.”

Kendou grinned, taking out her own (Uwabami-themed) _bento_ and sitting down on a chair adjacent to his. Kyosuke mirrored her actions, taking a bite of his eggs and rice, while she made a start on her own lunch, seemingly a chicken salad of some sort and black coffee.

The resultant silence, this time, was broken by Kyosuke. “How did you find the written exam?”

Kendou shrugged. “The General Knowledge portion was a little difficult, but I quite liked my answers for the rest of the paper. How about you, Kirihara-kun?”

Kyosuke hummed. “It was okay. I quite liked my answer to the twenty-third question.”

“You mean the one about Japan being the epicentre of heroics?” At Kyosuke’s nod, she continued, “It was a good question. I’m a little worried I didn’t make enough references to supplement my answer, though…but what do _you_ think about it, Kirihara-kun?”

“Hmm?”

“About Japan taking America’s place as the epicentre of heroics?” Kendou’s stare was penetrating. “It’s pretty clear that Japan is now the strongest nation when it comes to heroes, right? We don’t just have All Might and Endeavor; even the heroes in the double digits, like Gang Orca and Mitsuhide, are extremely powerful. Heroes in the U.S, like Thunder Law and Jade Blade, can’t compare.”

“You’re right,” agreed Kyosuke. “Then there was the V.I.P.E.R Incident- Japan was the nation who took care of it, in the end; every other nation in the U.N was completely helpless…”

“Yeah, wasn’t that the one when Endeavour collaborated with Scorpio and Crimson Riot to figure out the leader of V.I.P.E.R, and then take him down? I think that’s why he became Number Three, and then Number Two after that- after all, his popularity was, for once, higher than All Might’s.”

It went on like this for a while, each person learning more about the other’s intellect and depth of knowledge in the process, their _bento_ slowly becoming emptier and emptier. For Kyosuke, it was a truly delightful experience- he had never had such a discussion with anyone before.

“Ah,” realized Kendou, getting up quickly. Kyosuke followed his new friend suit. “We’d better go, it’s almost time for the practical.”

“Nervous?” asked Kyosuke. Kendou grinned. “A little,” she admitted.

Kyosuke smiled back at her. “So am I,” he said. The two entered the auditorium and sat at their designated venues after bidding each other quiet goodbyes, and promises to meet after the exam was over.

He sat down, noting with a distinct lack of surprise that Bakugou was sitting right beside him. The blond grunted once to acknowledge his presence, before ignoring him outright. Deciding to mirror his former classmate, Kyosuke shifted to get more comfortable and stared straight ahead.

About five minutes passed (during which Kyosuke sorely wished to be back with Kendou- she would be much better company than this guy) before the stage lit up, showcasing a grinning leather-clad man with very interestingly styled blond hair. The Voice Hero, Present Mic.

“Okay, boys and girls, it’s time to settle down! _Everybody, say HEY_!” Present Mic yelled into the speaker he carried as a part of his hero costume. No one responded.

“What a dignified response!” Kyosuke would have probably believed that he was completely unperturbed from the tepidity of his audience, but for the fact that his arms were trembling. “Well, no matter. Time to lay down the rules of the exam for all you boys and girls! _Are you readyyy?! YEAH!_ ”

There was still no response. Bakugou snorted from beside him.

“Meh, guess y’all are so nervous you can’t speak. Well, anyway!” The screen behind the Voice Hero shifted, showcasing a bunch of silhouettes of what looked like robots, with numbers written below them. “The rules of the exam are simple. You walk out to whatever test centre you’ve been assigned, which is written on a placard on your desks, by the way-” Ah, so that explained why there was a large white card on which was written a black C on his desk- “and you destroy robots! There are three kinds of robots, each giving you one, two and three points respectively! Rack up as many as you can, ‘coz all you guys and gals have only ten minutes to do so!”

So that was it? Destroying robots? Kyosuke gave a slight smile. That was good for him- he had a lot of aliens good for destruction, and there was no danger of timing out granted that his time limit was twenty-five minutes- well above the exam time of ten minutes.

“So that’s it- any questions?”

“I have a question!” A bespectacled, black-haired boy stood up stiff and erect, arm raised high in the air. Kyosuke raised an eyebrow. “It seems that you have neglected to mention that there is a fourth robot displayed on the placard given to us!” Surprised, Kyosuke checked it, flipping it over, and- yes. Four robots were displayed there, not three. “If this is some sort of mistake, U.A should be properly ashamed of it!”

“Hey, now!” Present Mic was utterly unfazed, despite the whispering throughout the auditorium. “I was just getting to that, #4481. Ahem, yes.” The screen wavered before displaying a picture of the last robot, with a number zero below it. “That, dear listeners, is a zero-pointer. It’s more like an obstacle than anything else. I suggest you avoid it.”

“Thank you very much! I apologize for the interruption!” the black-haired boy sat down. Bakugou snorted again.

“Okay! Lastly, remember this, all of you- Napoleon Bonaparte once said, ‘A hero is someone who is capable of overcoming life’s misfortunes.’”

“So, don’t be afraid, and above all, remember to go beyond, PLUS ULTRA!!” Present Mic shouted with a broad grin. 

* * *

 

 Kyosuke stood in his tracksuit, which as aforementioned was a navy half-sleeved jacket over a white shirt and navy pants. He was warming up, stretching his muscles and relaxing his body. Students all around him were doing the same thing.

He noticed several people that stood out. A girl with pink skin and black sclera. Another girl who had a posture and tongue resembling a frog’s. Even Kendou was here, taking deep breaths to calm herself down. He decided to leave her be, for the time being. _‘I’ll talk to her later.’_

“OKAY, START!!”

He looked up in shock. _‘Already?’_

Present Mic was grinning from above him, holding a large megaphone. He didn’t let himself waste another moment- he rushed forward, activating the Omnitrix even as students around him gaped in shock. “What?! There aren’t any countdowns in a real fight! Run, run, run! #2421’s got the right idea!!”

He spun the dial, ignoring everyone shouting and yelling behind him, before finding the alien he wanted, slapping down on the watch face. Instantly, he became about six inches taller even as he ran, blue and black fur emerging from his body with the black fur forming a sort of mask on his face. Blade-shaped structures erupted from his elbows as he became a hundred times faster.

**_“Fasttrack!”_ **

The blue-furred, muscular alien ran at speeds equalling that of a _shinkansen_ , putting much more distance between himself and his peers. Soon, he found his first robot; a one-pointer, if the large 1 on its chest was anything to go by. Without even stopping, he sliced at it with his elbows, the robot barely getting a chance to say anything before it was sliced apart, and blew up to smithereens.

“Yeahhh!” shouted the alien in excitement, taking down four more one-pointers and a two-pointer, before a student (the black-haired boy who had spoken up earlier) finally showed up, taking on a robot for himself. Other students soon followed, but Kyosuke was by then occupied with other things- namely, gaining points and not letting himself be knocked out of his rhythm by errant missiles.

For the time being, he stayed as Fasttrack, cutting down robots with his blades or simply kicking and punching until they were down. However, he soon found out that he was at a disadvantage.

Unlike many heroes with speed-type Quirks, Fasttrack didn’t have very fine control over his speed. He often found himself bumping into buildings and other examinees when he should’ve stopped or turned instead. His maneuverability was made worse by the fact that more and more students were arriving in the area he was at, which meant having to often pace himself and stay aware of his surroundings, which was very difficult to do as Fasttrack. The speedster alien was so fast that he could only really focus on one thing at a time.

So, he raced over to a clump of robots and hit the Omnitrix symbol on his chest.

Blue fur was replaced with metallic yellow-and-grey skin and a wide set of shoulders between which a head floated.

**_“Lodestar!”_ **

The metallic alien held up his pincer-like hands, even as examinees around him stared in shock. “Time to see whether you’re all _attracted_ to me!” he quipped.

A powerful magnetic wave exploded from his body, instantly affecting the robots all around him. When he’d discovered this alien in Dagobah, he’d had a field day with all the metal implements there…after he’d learned to control his powers, of course. The metallic humanoid hadn’t been an easy alien to use at first, but soon, his control over his magnetic powers had improved greatly. With a swipe of his hands, Lodestar instantly clumped together, and destroyed at least five metallic bodies.

“Okay, going great!” he smiled (or he would have if Lodestar could move his lips or even his mouth) when he noticed a boy looking somewhat scared as he was cornered by two three-pointers in an alleyway.

“Oh shit!” he muttered, running toward the boy even as the robots turned on him. “It’s time for the two of you to take a hike!”

He swiped his hand, the robots slamming into the buildings making up the alleyway as their sudden magnetization caused them to repel each other with alarming speed. The boy breathed a sigh of relief, wiping his brow and smiling. He looked somewhat plain, with black hair streaming down his face. “Thanks, man! I was kind of out of my depth, there.”

With a flash of green, Lodestar was Kyosuke again, making the boy jerk back in shock, before regaining his composure and looking excited. “No problem. Sorry for stealing your kills.”

“Hey, that was _so damn cool_ , just now, how did you- LOOK OUT!” the boy roared, his arm…hardening? -as he swung a massive haymaker at an approaching one-pointer, blowing its head off. Kyosuke was the one to jerk back, this time. “Thanks for the save.”

“No biggie. I’m Kirishima.”

“I’m Kirihara,” responded Kyosuke, before manipulating the face of the watch once more, turning the dial several times before slapping down on the hologram of the alien he wanted. Promptly, he started to change shape, a bright green aura emanating from his body as it contorted and shifted, his neck disappearing and torso thickening under a blue-black carapace. A massive pair of jaws formed, along with onyx claws and a large horn.

**_“Eatle!”_** shouted the newly-transformed alien joyfully. Kirishima stared at him in wonder. “How are you _doing_ that, man?”

“I’ll tell you later,” the beetle-like alien waved the question aside. “For now, however…time for lunch!”

The black-haired boy looked utterly bewildered as Eatle started to pick up the remains of the unfortunate three-pointers and crush them between his formidable jaws, chewing with the air of a food critic delving into a new and delicious type of dish that he’d been starving to try for several months. “Um…I’ll just go, shall I?”

Eatle did not bother responding as Kirishima left. Despite the brief camaraderie that had formed between them during the spur of the moment, an exam was still an exam, and they were running out of time. Speaking of which… “You have exactly four more minutes to complete the exam!” Present Mic’s voice cheerfully rang out throughout the entire area.

“Looks like it’s _crunch_ time!” quipped Eatle as he sped into the fray once more, a green, undulating beam shooting out of his horn and tearing through a robot that had been just about to unload its missiles on him with ease. 

* * *

 

Unbeknownst to the entirety of the examinees, they were being watched as they performed the exam by a select board of teachers through a plethora of hidden cameras. These teachers were currently examining each student, looking for any sign of talent or skill that laid beyond what was expected of a normal high-schooler. Two of these examinees had caught their interest to a significant degree.

“#2420- Katsuki Bakugou. Quirk: Explosion. Allows him to generate nitroglycerin via his sweat, which he then ignites,” read out the 18+ Only Hero, Midnight.

The Hound Hero, Hound Dog leaned forward in interest as the said boy leaped over two robots, blowing their heads off with a tremendous blast and an even more tremendous roar. “He certainly hasn’t anything lacking when it comes to tenacity. He’s amassed sixty-eight villain points already.”

“What about rescue points?” countered the Blood Hero, Vlad King. “ _Zero_. It doesn’t matter that no examinee knows about them- he hasn’t bothered to save anyone from the robots, even when they needed it. Hell, he almost hit someone with his explosions when blasting that one three-pointer down!”

“If he gets accepted into U.A- and at this rate, he _will_ \- then we’ll need to work on his brashness and complete lack of restraint,” agreed Midnight. “That boy is a diamond in the rough.”

“What about the other examinee? #2421?” interrupted a lazy voice in the background. The teachers in the front turned away from the screens for a moment to regard the Erasure Hero, Eraserhead, whose dry eyes were fixed blearily, but alertly, on a screen showing a massive rhinoceros beetle mowing down a robot that had been about to concuss a pink-skinned girl with a mighty swing. “His Quirk is easily much more interesting, what could it be…”

“#2421- Kyosuke Kirihara,” read out a blond-haired skeleton, who was in actuality the Number One Hero, the Symbol of Peace, All Might, adopting his persona of Toshinori Yagi. “Quirk: Super Saiyan. It is called that because it makes his hair look exactly like that of one, and keeps it clean and free from any ailments such as dandruff and lice, besides.”

There was a long, incredulous silence. “No way!” chorused at least six teachers at the same time, which was to say every teacher in the room except Eraserhead, the principal Nedzu, and the Clone Hero, Ectoplasm. The heroes that had voiced their shock were Yagi himself, Midnight, Vlad King, Cementoss, Present Mic, and Snipe. “Look at how many creatures the boy’s turned into, already!” protested the third of the above mentioned. “There has to be some sort of mistake!”

“No, I don’t think so, Kan-kun,” said Nedzu pleasantly, taking a sip of his green tea. “If you look at the screen closely enough, you’ll notice that the boy hits something on his wrist every single time before he transforms. And, he has a little symbol located on his body every time he is a creature- look, the beetle has it on his chest.” Indeed, there was a strange green symbol with black triangles either side of it present on the beetle-like creature’s chest, clearly visible as he exchanged words with the girl, who was clearly thanking him for saving her.

“Do you think he is using some sort of weapon, then, to transform, Nedzu-kouchou?” inquired Midnight tensely. While weapon usage was not disallowed, the dependence of an examinee on anything except their own skill and Quirk was generally frowned upon. It was bad enough that Quirks were depended upon so much by heroes since their generation- they could be taken away either temporarily or otherwise by use of drugs, or erased by other Quirks like Eraserhead’s. Even All Might would be near helpless without his Quirk against a villain. Quirk dependence was necessary for an industry like the heroics section, but like every dependence, it could turn into a vice.

And here was #2421, who apparently had somehow acquired a weapon beyond anything they had ever seen. Of course, in this case, it was surely just to counteract the uselessness of his Quirk in combat, so it was acceptable, but some of these creatures barely resembled anything they had on Earth- the finest example being the one he had called Lodestar. How had Kirihara even gotten this device? Who had made it? And most importantly, why hadn’t the Government been informed of the creation of such a powerful device, assuming it had been made on Earth?

Eraserhead scowled slightly. “Obviously, this can’t be some sort of second Quirk. Whether the boy passes the exam or not…he shall be having words with us, later.”

Nedzu smiled. “His means of combat notwithstanding, his figures are even more impressive than Bakugou’s, at the moment. He has seventy-one villain points, and more impressively, twenty rescue points, giving him a total of ninety-one- no, ninety-three points.” The boy had just brought down a two-pointer with a mighty punch, still in the form of the beetle.

“How much time remains, Yamada-kun?” called Nedzu, getting a prompt response of, “Only a minute and thirty-eight seconds, Nedzu-kouchou!”

“Excellent,” the mouse smiled in satisfaction, sipping at his tea before putting his cup aside. “Send in the zero-pointers.”

* * *

 “Haaaah!” yelled Kyosuke, as he flipped over a robot, having changed into his human form when fighting as Eatle had become a bit tiresome. Despite his surprising strength and unique powers, the rhinoceros beetle was not good at taking on multiple opponents at once- he was a little too slow for it. So, he had changed into his human form and had taken advantage of his formidable spatial awareness and fighting skill to wreak mayhem on the robots surrounding him. They were one-pointers and incapable of ranged attacks, thankfully.

The robot slammed downward, going out of commission as its red eyes darkened. Kyosuke shook his head in amazement. U.A really went Plus Ultra on every stage!

“KIAI!” came a similar war cry, and the boy turned to watch Kendou punch two robots at the same time with a hand that was as large as her torso. Clearly, it was her Quirk, which she then used to take down another robot that had been approaching her from behind.

Kyosuke hailed her as she stopped for a while to rest. “Kendou-san!”

She looked at him, green eyes registering shock before warming in recognition. “Kirihara-kun!”

“Good going, so far?” panted Kyosuke, as he rushed at two one-pointers speeding towards them. Kendou followed behind him; she gripped one robot and slammed it down as he ducked a swipe from the other before catching it on the head with an elbow strike. “Yeah! Thanks for asking!”

He looked around; all the robots seemed to have been disabled. “Huh, seems there aren’t any robots around anymore.”

Kendou nodded in agreement. “Does that mean the exam is over?”

Apparently not quite yet. The ground started to shake as a colossus emerged from it- a titan of steel and technology that towered over the buildings as it gave a loud, metallic roar. The number 0 was transcribed on it with grey paint.

“Wait… _that’s_ the zero-pointer?!” yelled someone behind them. It sounded like Kirishima.

“Isn’t it a little…big?” offered the pink-skinned girl, Ashido, uneasily, as it started to walk towards them. Kyosuke’s feet seemed glued to the floor- he didn’t move even as the examinees, save Kendou, Kirishima, and Ashido themselves screamed and ran from the scene. The former tapped his arm frantically. “Kirihara-kun, we can’t beat that thing! We have to leave, now!”

The girl was right; despite the plethora of aliens- especially Lodestar- that he had in his Omnitrix, Kyosuke didn’t think he could defeat it. Damage it, perhaps, but not beat it. Besides, what compensation would he receive for it? He turned to leave (manipulating his Omnitrix to transform into Fasttrack), when his attention was arrested by a piercing scream.

“Someone…please help me!”

It seemed to be a girl who had just spoken, a brunette girl who seemed to be trapped under some rubble that the zero-pointer had knocked down. Kirishima looked at the girl, then at the group. “It would be so unmanly to just leave her there!” he insisted.

“We won’t,” agreed Ashido and Kendou simultaneously. Almost as one, the three turned to Kyosuke, who blinked in surprise. “What?”

“How can we save her?” Kendou asked. Kyosuke closed his eyes and tried to think of a plan, scrambling for any knowledge of their Quirks that he had. Kirishima could harden his skin, Ashido could produce acid, and Kendou could enlarge her hands. What could he do, in order to save the girl and knock out the zero-pointer?

He thought for a few moments, before opening his eyes purposefully. He wouldn’t be able to fight the zero-pointer, or rescue the girl, alone, but with the aid of these people? That could mean a whole different story, provided his desperate plan worked. “Kirishima, I need you to get that girl out of that rubble. You have your hardening Quirk- you can do it easily and with the least injury.”

The boy smacked his fists together. “I’m ready for it!”

The zero-pointer was only about ten metres away from them, now. Quickly, he turned to Kendou and Ashido. “Get on my shoulders.”

“Ehhh!” screeched the two girls, again simultaneously. Kyosuke winced even as he knelt. “We don’t have time for this! Just do it!”

Blushing slightly, they obeyed, Kendou sitting awkwardly on his left shoulder while Ashido occupied his right. “What will you be doing?” asked the latter.

Kyosuke grinned, manipulating his Omnitrix until he found the alien he wanted and slapping down on it. “ _This!_ ”

His body was swallowed in a verdant blaze as he grew, grew, grew, until he was almost twenty feet tall. His stature widened and his body grew several layers of muscle, before acquiring leathery brown, armour-like skin. He appeared much more like a dinosaur, now, with a tail sweeping out beneath his legs to complete the transformation.

**_“HUMUNGOSAUR!”_** rumbled the brown dinosaur, the astonished Kirishima now much smaller, the equally astonished girls now sitting very comfortably on his shoulders. “Okay, you are _definitely_ showing me how you did that!” yelled Kendou from his left.

“In a moment!” grinned Humungosaur, growing even taller now as spikes protruded from his back and down from his spine. He was now just a metre or two shorter than the zero-pointer. “All right, hang tight!”

“Aaaah!” screamed Ashido, holding on to the spikes on his shoulders for support. Humungosaur ran forward, past the terrified brunette and to the zero-pointer. “I’ll restrain it!” he roared as he ran. “Kendou, you try and hold its head steady, and Ashido, give it the strongest acid you’ve got!”

“Roger!” chorused the two as the gigantic alien caught hold of the robot’s hands, crushing them and moving closer to grip its shoulders. This was the girls’ cue; they jumped off Humungosaur’s shoulders and on to the zero-pointer, which screeched and struggled.

“Like I’d let you get away!” shouted the alien confidently, gritting his teeth and straining his immense muscles to hold the robot in place. It was difficult, so difficult, but it was doable. “Don’t worry, Kendou, Ashido; I have him!”

The former of the two ran, punching repeatedly at the head before grasping it firmly, even as her knuckles bled. Ashido, for her part, waited until Kendou had gotten a steady hold of the head before rushing forward with amazing agility as the most corrosive acid she could produce flowed from her fingers and into the cracks of the zero-pointer’s head. She continued at it, the acid eating away at the robot’s cerebral matrix, Humungosaur holding it grimly and Kendou tearing off chunks from the head so the acid could move directly into the robot’s brain.

“Almost…there!!” screamed the orange-haired girl, with a final effort tugging spiritedly at a section of metal until it came free…and that was when the zero-pointer’s single red eye went dark, and it slumped downwards, the girls getting on to the dinosaur’s shoulders before they fell.

Simultaneously, Present Mic’s voice rang out one last time throughout the test centre: “ _Tiiime’s UP!_ ”

* * *

 Exhausted but delighted with his day’s work, Kyosuke Kirihara lay in his bedroom, thinking over the aftermath of the exam.

The four had been tired beyond belief, assembling in the central square of the centre (Kyosuke had, of course, turned back into human form by then) with Kirishima still carrying the brunette piggyback-style; she had fallen unconscious during their brief scrimmage with the zero-pointer. Whether it was because a stray rock had struck her, or because of the shock of seeing a dinosaur charge past her, Kyosuke did not know.

(He later learned that her name was Ochako Uraraka and that she had gotten stuck under the rubble because she had been trying to help up a struggling examinee, who had pushed her aside and right into the path of the falling pieces of stone.)

Recovery Girl had appeared soon after that, giving everyone some All Might shaped gummies for energy, and laying a kiss (which had shocked the coterie of examinees) on Kendou to heal her torn knuckles. Privately, Kyosuke admired her for her distinct perseverance, which reminded him quite a bit of a certain blond boy.

The four had been too tired to do anything except exchange e-mails and numbers, and promise to hang out the next day, at a café. After all, there were certain things people could not do without emerging as friends afterward, and taking down a titanic, cycloptic robot was one of them. Kyosuke had then made his way home and was now here, in his bed.

He had garnered exactly seventy-five villain points, he knew. Whether that was an impressive figure or not, he didn’t know just yet, and he refused to speculate on it or even think about it until the letter showed up five days later.

However, for the first time in his adolescence…he had friends. This was the most wondering thing that had happened to him today. He had made friends.

Kyosuke grinned into his pillow as sleep overtook him. Already, he was looking forward to the next day.

He slept peacefully that night.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment and/or a kudos if you liked it, and thanks to everyone who has commented/left kudos till now :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically a gigantic filler for what happens after the U.A Entrance Exam (lol)

**Chapter Three**

Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall. The newest and easily one of the most popular malls in Musutafu. There was literally nothing one could not do there, be it simply drink coffee or sing at a karaoke bar. Kyosuke and his friends had come here, exactly four days after the U.A Entrance Exam, to do precisely these two things.

They had decided to hit the karaoke bar first, as a result quickly discovering that none of them had any talent for the art of singing, something which they found deeply amusing (and would never fail to use as teasing material, later).

Kirishima, for example, had all but murdered the song he had chosen to sing ('The Day', by Porno Graffiti. Why its members had chosen to name their band that, Kyosuke did not know) with his over-exuberance and unnecessary loudness. To his credit, he had taken the subsequent merciless teasing quite well. Kendou had done much better, her choice of amazarashi's 'Sora Ni Utaeba' rather surprising- it was a somewhat unpopular song. Nevertheless, she had done reasonably well. Ashido had been worse than Kendou, but better than Kirishima; then again, all of her artistic flair belonged on the dance floor, not on the singing platform. As for Kyosuke….

Ashido was still crying tears of laughter as they exited the karaoke bar. Kirishima was slightly better off than his middle school classmate, but he was still laughing loudly enough for it to be heard at least one hundred metres away. Kendou, being a much politer specimen, was patting the white-haired boy's back while she hid her giggles from his view.

"I still don't understand what was wrong with my performance," argued Kyosuke vehemently. His rhythm had been okay, his voice hadn't cracked at all, and he had a respectable baritone; what could have gone wrong?

"I-it's your tone!" cackled Ashido. "Your voice is like a p-permanent deadpan, Kirihara!"

Kirishima immediately imitated Kyosuke's manner of singing, which would have sounded exactly like a deep, monotonic speech, had it not been for the rhythm accompanying the song. " _'Saramada kakagero peace sign…_ '"

It was enough for Kendou and Ashido to start laughing, once more. Kyosuke felt a deep blush on his cheeks, and he looked away while inwardly cursing his pale skin. It made his blushes so much more prominent!

The four of them looked for a café they could sit in and have some food and coffee. Kendou, in particular, loved black coffee and anything coffee-flavoured. It was her sole indulgence, she had alleged at their first outing as a group, in a diet otherwise filled with salad and lean protein. Ashido liked natto and okra (her favourite foods) and would always try and get something containing one or both of them wherever they went. Kirishima had slightly simpler tastes ("Meat is super manly, bro!"). However, Kyosuke was the black sheep, in that he did not have a favourite  _food_  per se; but rather a favourite dish; namely, as mentioned, the Endeavour's Fiery Eggs.

(Ashido had called him out on the simplicity of his choice several times after he'd revealed this. Kirishima, in sharp contrast, had supported it, saying something about how there was nothing manlier than pure and simple spice, which was, obviously, what the dish was full of. This had quickly escalated into an argument that Kyosuke had ignored along with Kendou.)

"Look, I see a good-looking café over there!" Kirishima yelled exuberantly, pointing at an establishment that looked respectable and welcoming, if not a little dark. Unlike many cafés, which preferred white and yellow lighting, this one seemed to give off a homier and more comfortable aura with amber light and tasteful brown shades of paint.

They walked in, revelling in the cool, dark atmosphere, as a waiter with silver hair showed them to an empty table and promised to be back within fifteen minutes to take their order. The four picked up menus- or rather, Kirishima and Ashido picked up menus, while Kendou and Kyosuke shared a third- and were soon ready with their orders (chicken ramen, natto sushi, cottage cheese salad, and scrambled eggs on toast, respectively, as well as four coffees of varying brews).

"I like it here," whispered Kendou, as the waiter strode away from them. "It's quiet and relaxing; the ambience is nice, and the service is good."

"Prices aren't so bad, either," Kirishima put in his two cents.

"Shame it's so far away from our houses," Ashido sighed, leaning back against her chair with her shoulder brushing Kirishima's, slightly. Kyosuke shrugged. "Eh, you win some, you lose some."

For a few minutes, the friends sat, simply enjoying each other's company in quiet contentment, before Kyosuke leaned forward slightly. "The U.A test results will probably arrive today," he said suddenly, his eyes glowing with purpose.

To his surprise, his statement was received with a multitude of groans and general disapproval. "Ki-ri-ha-ra- _kun_!" rebuked Kendou, lightly hitting him over the head with each syllable.

"What?" demanded Kyosuke, rubbing the afflicted area. "They're important! They decide whether or not our careers as heroes are made or broken!" This did absolutely nothing to quell the aforementioned disapproval emanating from Ashido and Kirishima in waves.

"Yeah- and you've also brought them up every single time we've gone out like this," deadpanned the black-haired boy, leaning back in his chair. Ashido followed through with, "You do realize that they aren't going to change or arrive any faster no matter how many times you mention them, Kirihara?"

"I get that," said an exasperated Kyosuke, "but-"

"But nothing," lectured Kendou. "It's  _fine_  that you want to be a great hero, Kirihara-kun- we all do. But obsessing over the results isn't going to achieve anything. Why don't you try to relax, just enjoy the moment?"

This silenced the white-haired boy.

"The test results may be good, they may be bad; it doesn't matter, right now," Kirishima said with a smile. "Try to live in the right now."

At that precise moment, their food arrived. Ashido squealed in joy as she instantly picked up her natto sushi, devouring it ferociously. Kirishima slurped contentedly on his ramen, while Kendou started on her Turkish black coffee. Kyosuke looked at his scrambled eggs thoughtfully, not eating anything just yet.

' _Maybe they are right. Maybe I'm being a bit too obsessive.'_

He picked up his fork and knife, cutting into the toast and deftly spearing it, before taking a bite.

' _Maybe…it's not so bad, once in a while, to just…relax and enjoy the moment.'_

* * *

The white-haired boy stared at the crisp envelope, completely nondescript except for the unmistakeable U.A logo on the red stamp sealing it closed.

After he had bid goodbye to his friends, he had headed straight home, for once not thinking about U.A or whether he'd passed the entrance exam; just how much fun he'd had with everyone at karaoke and the café. Despite his resolution not to think about his score and how good it was, comparatively, he had been doing it subconsciously, without even being aware of it.

When Kyosuke had reached his house only to find the envelope waiting at his front door, he took a moment to reflect on the irony of the situation, before picking it up and carrying it inside, to his desk. Since the past ten minutes, he had done nothing but stare at it.

"Oh, to hell with it!" he said finally, tearing it apart fiercely, only to find a little disc-shaped object. He looked at it, confused, before he jerked back in shock as the blue centre lit up to display a hologram of-

"All Might?!" he asked, further confused and shocked. Why was the Number One Hero present here?

"How goes it, Young Kirihara?!" hailed All Might jovially. "I am here…to tell you your results! For you see, from this semester onward, I will be teaching at U.A!"

Kyosuke sputtered slightly.  _'What on Earth!'_  While this, of course, explained his appearance here, why was the Number One Hero taking up a teaching career? The Symbol of Peace, of all people! How would he even find the time to balance his career and his teaching?

There would be time to ponder that later; All Might had started to speak once more. "Young Kirihara, you performed very well indeed on your written exam, achieving a score of 95%, with particular distinction in the General Knowledge segment.  **Very**   **nice**!" All Might finished with a thumbs-up. Kyosuke felt a thrill course through him; that wasn't at all a bad score.

"Your practical, however, was a different story."

Joy turned to horror in an instant. Oh no…what had happened? Had seventy-five points been too less, after all?

"You didn't just perform well in the practical portion, you went above and beyond what any other student in U.A's history has ever scored! You gained seventy-five villain points, which would have already been enough to pass, but what none of you knew was that there was an additional segment to the exam! For people who showcased the spirit of self-sacrifice, for the sake of other examinees who needed help!  **Rescue**   **points**!"

"You, Kyosuke Kirihara, did not only score seventy-five villain points; you scored **one hundred rescue points** , for your bravery and sacrifice in saving three separate examinees!"

Kyosuke's eyes almost fell out of his head. Behind All Might, there was a screen on which was playing several scenes from the practical. Saving Kirishima as Lodestar. Rescuing Ashido as Eatle.

Saving the brunette as Humungosaur, with Kendou and Ashido on his shoulders and Kirishima digging her out of the rubble.

" **These two parts of the exam add up to create a truly magnificent score of one hundred and seventy-five points, thus not only coming first on the entrance exam by a large margin but also beating the previous school record by twenty-three points! Therefore, Kyosuke Kirihara…you have been accepted into U.A High School!** "

Tears were swimming in Kyosuke's eyes. "This…I can't believe it…"

"Come, Young Kirihara." All Might's smile was a beacon in the dark as he held out his hand. "This…is  **your HERO ACADEMIA**!"

As the hologram faded away, Kyosuke got to his feet, clenched his fists, closed his eyes, and unleashed the loudest scream he had ever done, in a long, long time.

* * *

Shouto Todoroki watched the T.V screen with narrowed eyes.

On it was displayed a massive, dinosaur-like creature of some sort, holding back an equally, if not more massive, robot as an orange-haired girl tore its head apart. Obstructed from view was another girl with pink skin, secreting some sort of liquid from her body. Clearly her Quirk, it was seemingly eating away at the robot's inner circuitry. Behind them, a boy with long black hair was digging a girl out of some rubble.

These four were the top scorers of the U.A Entrance Exam, and consequently Shouto's greatest rivals throughout his tenure at the prestigious hero school. One of them- Kyosuke Kirihara- had even broken the previous record of one-hundred and fifty-two points that had been set by All Might himself, and had remained unbroken even by his father, who had received a score of one-hundred and forty-seven points.

He wasn't too worried about the rest of them. Ashido, Kendou, and Kirishima might have had excellent scores themselves (one-hundred and twenty, one-hundred and twenty-five, and one-hundred and twenty-seven, respectively) but Shouto had already analyzed everything about them that was necessary. Their fighting styles, their endurance, their strength, their Quirks. They would be no threat to him at any stage.

But the white-haired one. Kirihara. Shouto still found him an enigma- him and his impossibly strange Quirk. What sort of Quirk let its wielder turn into so many different and powerful creatures? And what sort of creatures were they?

A muffled stomping alerted him to the presence of the man he hated most in the world. He scowled as Endeavour's footsteps sounded outside his room before the  _shoji_  door was slid open.

"Shouto," a deep, guttural voice sounded out behind him.

Resenting every second of it, he turned around and bowed slightly, never taking his eyes off his father in a deliberate show of disrespect. "Father." The word flowed from his mouth with a contempt that should have not accompanied that word in any world.

Enji Todoroki scowled coldly. "Have you perused the videos of the Entrance Exam?"

"Yes."

The Flame Hero stalked over, glaring at the dinosaur- which had by this time turned into the white-haired enigma whose Quirk he couldn't figure out- with anger and resentment. It didn't surprise Shouto. The boy had done what Endeavour hadn't been able to do at that time; beat All Might's record.

"That damned rat is hiding something from me," growled Enji. "Five times I've called him, demanded him to explain that child's Quirk to me. Five times he has not responded."

Shouto did not speak.

Enji got up, pinning his son under a frigid stare. "Listen to me. I do not care whether you know that boy's Quirk or not; I expect you to be superior to him, at every stage. Do you understand me, Shouto?"

"I don't need you to tell me that," snapped the heterochromatic boy angrily. He knew why- he knew why his father was telling him this. Normally, he wouldn't give a damn about anyone in U.A…but this person had broken All Might's record. If Shouto surpassed him now, that would finally prove to Enji that he'd achieved what he'd intended to when he'd birthed him.

Surpass All Might. Surpass the one hero whom he'd always fallen behind, no matter how hard he studied or trained.

Shouto hated it. Hated  _him_. Was his destiny merely to remain a puppet to carry out his father's dreams?

Endeavour walked out, closing the door behind him.

* * *

Itsuka breathed in slowly, filling her lungs with oxygen and energizing her body for the bout that was to follow. Her opponent watched her carefully, no doubt trying to gauge her opening move by looking for the subtle tells their sensei had told them to watch out for, and to hide.

The referee waited for one, two, three seconds. Then-

" _Hajime_!"

Itsuka instantly opened with a spinning kick, which was somewhat unusual for her given her Quirk, but then again, they weren't allowed to use them in the fight, and a punch-based attack would have been easier to see coming, besides.

Her opponent blocked it with his arms, wincing slightly at the force of her blow, before sweeping his leg out to trip her. He would have succeeded, had Itsuka not predicted that exact move. She leaped while balancing on her left foot, his leg passing underneath hers rapidly and harmlessly.

"Hah!" she cried, blitzing her opponent with a series of kicks and punches, which he evaded and returned in equal measure. Soon, however, he gasped in pain as she landed a front kick on his solar plexus, followed by a roundhouse punch to the ribs. Her third attack, however, was stopped cold as he recovered in time to do so with his palm.

He then attacked, nailing her in the shoulder with a front kick of his own and a subsequent hook punch to her stomach. As he was about to move in to throw her over his shoulder, she evaded his grip, before tripping him up and knocking him out of the ring with a final palm thrust.

Just like that, their fight was over.

A storm of clapping reached Itsuka's ears- no doubt from the watching  _karateka_ \- as she helped her fallen opponent up, grinning. "Good match, Ojiro-kun."

Mashirao Ojiro smiled back at her. "You too. It was great, the way you dodged my shoulder throw."

"That was because they are still too predictable!" chastised Itsuka, whacking him over the head. Ojiro grinned slightly self-deprecatingly. "Sorry, sorry…"

"You've both done well." Her sensei, an older man with greying hair and sharp eyes, said with a kind smile. In order to celebrate the two of them successfully passing the U.A Entrance Exam, their sensei had held a friendly, ceremonial bout between the two of them. Besides, this would also mean quitting the dojo, as they would, more likely than not, not have the time to come any longer.

Itsuka and Ojiro had joined the dojo on the same day, each wanting to get stronger and become great heroes, despite having simple Quirks. This common interest and the fact that they went to the same school had made them friends rather quickly.

She had considered bringing him along several times when she went to hang out with Kirishima, Ashido and Kirihara. However, she had finally decided against it, as she didn't think Ojiro would really enjoy the experience (he wasn't as extroverted as she, after all), and that would also mean that Kirihara would be the only one without a friend from middle school accompanying him. She didn't want to leave him with that sort of lonely feeling.

Besides, the bond she shared with the three of them was different from the bond she shared with Ojiro. While she had known the blond-haired boy for longer, it would be somewhat weird for her, if not anyone else, to have her friends be introduced to Ojiro so early after she'd met them.

"Kendou-kun!" the sharp voice of her sensei interrupted her musings. "Even if it is your last day, that doesn't give you permission to slack off!"

"S-Sorry!" she stood at attention immediately, much to Ojiro's apparent amusement.

Her sensei sighed. "Well, you did get admitted to U.A, so I think I'll let you off, just this once."

She inwardly sighed with relief. Her sensei could be brutal at times, making her be the  _uke_  for some other student- which meant being their punching bag as they tried out some offensive technique- or making her run laps around the dojo with weights strapped on her feet.

As she was let off from the dojo for the last time (not without some emotion from her part and her sensei's, as well as from Ojiro), she walked home, still in her karate uniform, bag slung over her shoulder. Soon, she would be at a whole new school, with a whole new classroom, studying a whole new subject. Change, she reflected, was all around her.

Well, at least she would have her friends by her side as she embarked on this new journey, she thought to herself as she broke into a run.

* * *

Eijirou Kirishima was nervous, as he had been since he had passed the U.A Entrance Exam.

When he had gotten the notice that he'd passed the toughest exam of any heroics school in Japan- with flying colours, no less- he had been ecstatic, his parents had had tears pouring from their eyes, and they had even gone out to his favourite restaurant to eat, which they normally couldn't do because it was a little out of their price range.

The very next day, he'd met up with Kirihara, Ashido, and Kendou to do the exact same thing- albeit at a slightly less validated establishment- that was to say the café they had gone to after karaoke at Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall. He'd soon learned that they had passed with similar scores to his, which had only added to his happiness.

(Eijirou had been pleasantly astonished when Kirihara had revealed his score (it was well above any of theirs, after all), and that it was the new record of U.A's entrance exam. Ashido had needled him endlessly about this, saying something along the lines of how he would be 'the golden boy of the first years', much to his embarrassment. Kendou had merely congratulated him with a big smile on her face, which had only made him blush harder.

It was as if none of them were disappointed or resentful that Kirihara had beaten them by such a large margin as fifty (or so) points, reflected Eijirou later. They had just been happy for him, as he had been for them for achieving second (himself), third (Kendou) and fourth (Ashido).

It was strange. He hadn't felt jealous of Kirihara at all, even though a part of him (that he  _hated_ ) had resented many of his middle school classmates- like Ashido! - for having Quirks that were so much more interesting and powerful than his. And Kirihara's power- even if it wasn't a Quirk- was far beyond his own. However, he hadn't felt any jealousy- only a burning desire not to lose to his friend again.

Did that mean he was finally maturing? Leaving his demons behind? Becoming the manly version of himself he'd aimed to be since he'd started to train to enter U.A?)

In light of this new revelation, he'd gone to a hair salon to dye his hair red and spike it straight up. Not an easy job, given that he had so much hair, but he'd managed. It was all for the sake of striving to be the man he wanted to be; the hero he wanted to be.

Despite all of this, he was nervous. More than he'd ever been before. Two days from now, he would start training at the best hero school Japan had to offer- realizing his dream of becoming a hero like Crimson Riot that he'd thought of in grade school all those years ago. It made him wonder- was he truly ready to become that guy?

It made him sick to know that, after all this time…his insecurities still plagued him as they had back in middle school. Even now, he felt no different from that boy who, like his Quirk, was so often disregarded and overlooked in favour of flashy characters like Ashido. Hence, his self-doubt and nervousness.

It was at that moment that his phone started buzzing, belting out the song 'Peace Sign' by Kenshi Yonezu, the song Kirihara had sung at karaoke a few days ago.

Confused, he picked it up. The caller ID registered as 'Mina Ashido'.

He sighed, long and drawn-out, before accepting the call and holding up the phone to his ear. "Yo."

" _Kirishima-kun!"_  Ashido's voice was cheery, despite the fact that it was late in the evening.

"Ashido, why are you calling me at nine p.m?" deadpanned Eijirou, not unkindly.

" _Well…"_  she hesitated slightly, piquing his interest.  _"I was kind of…nervous. About, uh, U.A? And…and I figured I'd call you…'cause, you know…"_

"Yeah. So am I." He was weirdly touched that Ashido had chosen to rely on him. "It's okay. I'm sure everyone's feeling nervous. U.A's no joke, right?"

" _No,"_  she agreed, relieved. A brief silence stretched out between them before she spoke again.  _"Why did you dye your hair?"_

Eijirou grinned. "Looks super manly, don't it?"

" _Yeah! Though I_ was _surprised,"_ she admitted _. "I didn't think you would go so far as to do something like that. How are you even going to maintain that sort of hairstyle?"_

"With tons of hair gel! Though I should probably say that it takes three minutes to set," he said, a little sheepishly.

" _Three minutes-!"_  she broke off with a splutter of laughter, and Eijirou couldn't help but join in.

Once they had finally calmed down, she spoke once more.  _"You never answered my question, Kirishima."_

Eijirou sighed. "…I wanted to dye my hair because my idol is Crimson Riot."

Sensing the sudden seriousness in his voice, Ashido did not speak. She let him continue.

"You know what his hair's like… all red and spiked up. I wanted a hairstyle like that, so I could make myself my own image of a hero while showing that it was inspired by him." He broke off, before continuing. "I always thought that Crimson Riot was the manliest dude, ever! I admired him and idolized him, and I still do. His Quirk's not the flashiest, but he's still so frickin' cool that I can't help but admire him, even now.

"I want to be like him. I want to be chivalrous and manly, but at the same time, I don't want to copy him. I want to be my own version of the hero I think is cool and manly. That's why I dyed my hair…it was so that I could be a cool hero, like Crimson Riot!"

He breathed slowly as his impassioned speech came to an end. Ashido remained silent, before laughing slightly.  _"Kirishima…that's great. It's awesome that you want to be a hero, and it's awesome that you idolize Crimson Riot the way you do._

" _But at the same time…don't put so much pressure on yourself! It's fine to sit back and let the change happen naturally. Don't_ force _yourself to be like him…it'll come on its own."_

Eijirou was silent.

" _When you think you've become the hero you've wanted to become…come tell me, okay?"_  Ashido told him softly.

_Beep._

Eijirou sat back on his bed, slowly stretching out his legs as he thought about what Ashido had said.

He wasn't nervous, any longer.

* * *

Kyosuke had a slight grin on his face as he entered, in full U.A school uniform, into his dream school's hallowed halls. His Omnitrix rested on his wrist, gleaming as the white light reflected off of its polished grey dial.

"Class 1-A, class 1-A," he murmured, increasing his pace a fraction. It was already 9:00 am, and he didn't want to be late for his first day of school.

"Aha!" he said triumphantly, spotting a gigantic door that said "1-A" in big red letters.  _'Wow, the door is_ really _big. I wonder whether U.A gets many giants as its students?'_

Musing to himself, Kyosuke opened the door and instantly registered three things.

One, Kendou, Kirishima and Ashido were all in his class, and already together and talking animatedly, not having noticed his entrance yet.

Two, Bakugou was also in his class and was currently exchanging several heated words with a bespectacled boy- the one that had asked the question during Present Mic's briefing about the practical.  _'So, he passed too, huh? Not that it's surprising, of course.'_

Third, (and this was making him slightly uncomfortable), quite a few students were eyeing him in a not-so-subtle fashion. For example, a boy with strange white-and-red hair split clean in the middle (wait! Kyosuke actually recognised him- that was Shouto Todoroki, the son of Endeavour. Was he scouting him out as a potential rival or something?) and a rather voluptuous black-haired girl (whose hair was tied up in a wild ponytail) with sharp grey eyes and the overall air of an  _ojou-sama_.

' _Ahh! I recognise her too- that's the heir to the Yaoyorozu fortune, Yaoyorozu Momo! Hadn't she got in with recommendations along with Todoroki? Have these two got wind of my scores? Is that why they're looking at me like_ that _?'_

If there were two supposedly strong, smart, and essentially deadly students scouting him out in that fashion…there was really only one word he could use to encapsulate his situation.

" _Shit_ ," he muttered in English, finally getting his friends' collective attention. "Kiriharaaa!" they all shouted joyfully, beckoning him over. Or well, Kirishima and Ashido shouted 'Kirihara'; Kendou added a '-kun' at the end.

Uneasily trying to ignore the two elites staring his way, he ventured over to his friends. Or rather, he was about to, before a girl's voice from behind him stopped him. "AH! It's you!"

Kyosuke turned sharply, only to find the brunette girl he'd saved (or rather,  _Kirishima_  had saved, while he fought the zero-pointer as Humungosaur along with Ashido and Kendou) looking at him with sparkling eyes and round pink cheeks.

"Thank you so much for saving me, back then!" she beamed at him (he had to fight the urge to squint as his friends came over). "I mean, I was so worried when the four of you weren't running from that big robot, but then you transformed into that big dinosaur and were all like  _pow!_  And  _boom!_ " She punched the air enthusiastically to emphasize her point. "And that boy with black hair- he was so dependable and cool!"

Kirishima went a brilliant red, and he coughed several times as Ashido roared with laughter at him. Kyosuke, for his part, had only gotten more uneasy- the stares coming his way had intensified greatly.

"You little shit!" an angry voice came from behind his friends, who turned to see Bakugou kick aside his chair and stalk angrily over to Kyosuke. "What's this I hear about you being able to turn into a dinosaur and a rhinoceros beetle and fucking obliterate the school record?! I had to fucking pinch myself when I saw you during the entrance exam- that dinosaur transforming into you, just like that! Since when have you been able to do that, bastard?!"

Kyosuke waved his hands frantically, for once losing his composure as he became overly conscious of the fact that everyone in the class was watching the confrontation- including Todoroki and Yaoyorozu! – and that his friends were eyeing Bakugou with disdain and anger for speaking to him in such a way.

"It's not what you think!" he yelled. He couldn't tell Bakugou about Gyakusetsu-sensei- telling Kendou, Kirishima and Ashido had been enough. He didn't trust anybody else with that sort of information. Therefore, he used the best cover story he could think of. "It isn't a Quirk- I got this watch from someone- it was a gift!" He felt his face redden.

Bakugou's eyes narrowed. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Hey," snarled Kendou. "Back off! It's none of your business!"

"Make me, bitch!" Explosions crackled off Bakugou's palms as he snarled right back, giving no quarter despite the rudeness he was showing.

"You know, if you've come here just to pick fights, you should just leave right now."

A dry, inflectionless voice reached their ears from behind the brunette, who shrieked and leaped away from the door to reveal…a giant yellow caterpillar? Said caterpillar revealed himself to be a person when he cast aside his yellow sleeping bag and stood up.

' _Huh…is this guy supposed to be a pro hero?_ ' thought Kyosuke to himself. He didn't look the part- he was unshaven, uncombed and dressed in a rumpled black jumpsuit, with a white scarf covering his neck. Nevertheless, he looked extremely intimidating as he gazed at the throng of students in the class.

"I'm Shouta Aizawa, your homeroom teacher for this term," he drawled, rummaging in his sleeping bag and withdrawing a packet of juice, which he drained before pulling out what seemed to be U.A's gym uniform. "You'll find these beside your desks. Put them on and come outside to the field."

And thus, began Kyosuke's first day at U.A High School.

* * *

**U.A Entrance Exam**

**Practical Exam Results**

**No. 1: Kyosuke Kirihara**  
Villain Points: 75  
Rescue Points: 100  
Total: 175

 **No. 2: Eijirou Kirishima**  
Villain Points: 57  
Rescue Points: 70  
Total: 127

 **No. 3: Itsuka Kendou**  
Villain Points: 35  
Rescue Points: 90  
Total: 125

 **No. 4: Mina Ashido**  
Villain Points: 45  
Rescue Points: 75  
Total: 120

 **No. 5: Katsuki Bakugou**  
Villain Points: 77  
Rescue Points: 0  
Total: 77

 **No. 6: Ibara Shiozaki**  
Villain Points: 36  
Rescue Points: 32  
Total: 68

 **No. 7: Tenya Iida**  
Villain Points: 52  
Rescue Points: 9  
Total: 61

 **No. 8: Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu**  
Villain Points: 49  
Rescue Points: 10  
Total: 59

 **No. 9: Fumikage Tokoyami**  
Villain Points: 47  
Rescue Points: 10  
Total: 57

 **No. 10: Ochako Uraraka**  
Villain Points: 28  
Rescue Points: 25  
Total: 53

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of went a little out of my depth doing POV's for characters other than Kirihara. Let me know what you think in a comment :)  
> As always, thank you, everyone who has left kudos or commented on my story!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Quirk Assessment Test occurs.

**Chapter Four**

The gym uniform was made of nylon, and was blue with red and white accents. Kyosuke pulled at the collar meditatively as he walked over to the field with Kendou, Kirishima and Ashido flanking him, simultaneously shielding him from Bakugou's ire and the rest of the students' scrutiny, much to his relief.

When Aizawa-sensei informed them of the Quirk Assessment Test, he was surprised to say the least. He would assess their Quirks by making them do exercises like ball throws and push-ups? That seemed...somewhat foolish. Had Kyosuke been the one designing the test, he would have made it much more specific depending on the type of Quirk- not so vague and generic as simple middle school fitness tests.

It just didn't make sense…could it be that Aizawa-sensei was trying to achieve something entirely different than assessing their Quirks?

Well, whatever. It didn't matter anyhow. The score of aliens that the Omnitrix gave him would definitely see him through the test.

"Kirihara."

The white-haired boy started in surprise as his name was called by his lethargic homeroom teacher, who seemed to be holding a softball with some sort of weird metal object attached to it. Aizawa-sensei beckoned him over. "You got the highest score in the entrance exam, is that correct?"

"Yes," admitted Kyosuke reluctantly, feeling several eyes boring into him once more.

"What was your record in the softball throw in middle school?"

"Um…sixty-one metres, I think."

Aizawa nodded. "Earlier," he began once more, now addressing the entire class, "your physical aptitude was judged on the basis of your baseline strength without your Quirks. That was foolish, and we don't do things of the sort here at U.A." He nodded at Kyosuke. "Use your Quirk to throw the softball."

The white-haired boy nodded, gripping the softball in his left hand while he manipulated the Omnitrix with the other. As soon as he found the hologram he wanted, he hit the protruding watch face. Instantly, his body grew taller and taller, muscles bursting and tail growing as brown leathery skin covered his body.

 _ **"** **Humungosaur!"**_  he cried, ignoring, or trying to ignore, the shocked looks on the students' faces. He handled the softball, now barely the size of a marble from his perspective, and stepped up to the chalk circle before throwing it with everything he had.

As it shot up into the air like a bullet, he could hear students whispering behind him, debating the nature of his Quirk. It made him uncomfortable, so uncomfortable, why couldn't they just  _stop_ ….

A soft beep was heard from the tablet Aizawa was holding in his hand, and with a nod of satisfaction, he turned it over to display the score to the rest of the class.

3292.5 metres.

As his classmates all gasped in admiration, Humungosaur swiftly tapped the Omnitrix symbol on his chest to turn back into his human form, before rapidly jogging back to his friends, who all offered their own congratulations before flanking him like they had before. Aizawa-sensei dismissed the score on the tablet before speaking up once more.

"As you can see, when you use your Quirks, you get overwhelming physical and mental advantages. U.A is not going to let those go to waste. All of you are going to take this test, using your Quirks to boost your records."

"So, we can use our Quirks as much as we want, huh?" grinned a black-haired boy with oddly-shaped elbows, rubbing his palms in anticipation.

"As expected of U.A!" grinned Ashido. "We can have fun and play with our Quirks no matter what we do!"

Aizawa-sensei's eyes darkened abruptly. "Fun? Play? I'm sorry, do you think this is a game? All right, then. I've decided- the student with the lowest score is going to be expelled from U.A."

Kyosuke's eyes widened, as did those of every student.  _'What?!'_

"But you can't do something like that!" Uraraka (he had learnt her name a short while ago) protested. Joining in the uproar were a blond boy with a single lightning-bolt shaped streak in his hair, the boy with weird elbows from earlier, and Ashido and Kirishima themselves. Even Kendou was looking worried, though Bakugou, Todoroki and Yaoyorozu were remarkably calm, he noted.

Expulsion from any institute of learning was a supreme disgrace, even more so in Japan than in most other countries. Expulsion from a hero school was no less a disgrace, be it U.A or Ketsubutsu. "To do this on the first day itself, or even at all…this is just too unfair!" the brunette continued.

"Grow up!" thundered Aizawa-sensei menacingly. "Natural disasters, villain attacks, destruction and death…will you try and prevent these by pleading unfairness? It's useless! Japan is covered with unfairness, and if you all want to become heroes, you'll have to deal with it! Do you think, with an attitude angled towards  _fun_  and  _play_ , you can become heroes?"

Ashido hung her head shamefully. Kyosuke just narrowed his eyes at the teacher, who lifted his bangs up and grinned sinisterly. "You have three years to become heroes, and if you've chosen to do it here, at U.A, you'll have to deal with my methods of teaching. Welcome to U.A's hero course, children; here, we're going to throw everything we have at you, and you're going to come out of it with Plus Ultra on your lips.

"Are you ready?"

The Quirk Assessment Test was divided into eight parts. The fifty-metre dash, the ball throw, the grip test, standing long jump, repeated side steps, the seated toe-touch, an endurance run, and sit-ups.

Up first was the fifty-metre dash. Kyosuke would be racing with Iida- the bespectacled black-haired boy whom he'd recognised from the entrance exams. From what he'd seen of Iida, his Quirk seemed to be a mutant-type that allowed him to run at extremely high speeds using engines from his legs. This was rather surprising to Kyosuke- Iida's stature was much bulkier than what he would've expected from a speedster…or maybe he was just somewhat unfairly comparing him to the speedster  _he_  could become, who was an extremely lean alien.

Speaking of whom…Kyosuke grinned as he turned the watch face over and over, before slapping down on the hologram of a certain blue-furred feline.

" _ **Fasttrack!"**_

The lean alien took his place beside the astonished Iida (who had clearly never seen anything like Kyosuke's transformation before), before, on the call of the robot who was acting as referee, bursting off in a flash of blue, and crossing the finish line in-

"1.98 seconds," droned the robot timekeeper. Fasttrack smiled in satisfaction as Iida raced up behind him with his own respectable score of 3.14 seconds, before gasping slightly in shock as the other boy passionately told him "not to sit on your laurels for too long, for I shall be training every day to catch up to you, Kirihara-kun!"

Kyosuke had never met such an upright, and simultaneously, such a heated character before. At least the class wouldn't be boring with people like Iida and Bakugou in it, he reflected as he switched back to Kyosuke in a flash of green light.

Ashido was quite good as well, beating out her competitor at 4.19 seconds. Kirishima and Kendou, sadly, could not use their Quirks to help them with this sort of thing, but they did well anyhow, coming in with times of 7.02 seconds and 6.77 seconds, respectively. There were some other standouts as well, particularly Bakugou with a score of 4.13 seconds, a boy with a tail called Mashirao Ojiro (whom Kendou seemed somewhat familiar with) with 5.49 seconds, and a frog-like girl called Tsuyu Asui with a score of 5.58 seconds, but none came close to beating Fasttrack's record.

Whether that bothered or relieved Kyosuke, he did not know.

The standing long jump was the one test none of them could use their Quirks (or Omnitrix in Kyosuke's case) properly. The best he could do was to aim behind him with Eatle's horn like the French boy- Yuuga Aoyama- had done, and even then, he'd landed  _just_  outside the sandbox.

The grip test, however, was when Kirishima and Kendou really shone. Kendou especially- she came in third among the class with a great score of 557 kilograms, only being beaten out by a massive boy with several arms and a mask called Mezou Shouji, who got a score of 560 kilograms, and Kyosuke himself. For the grip test, he didn't choose Humungosaur; rather, he chose an alien he hadn't transformed into for a long time.

In a blaze of green, his ribcage expanded once, twice, thrice, as he grew bulkier, his features fiercer, and orange-and-white fur with black stripes emerged from his body.

" _ **RATH!"**_  screamed the newly-transformed, tiger-like alien, surprising the students nearest him. Growling, he picked up the grip tester and crushed it in his fist. "Lemme tell ya somethin', you fancy-ass grip tester from U.A!" he yelled, his accent now sounding much more like one from the Kansai region of Japan. "Rath is the strongest one around, so he's gonna  _crush_  you, and make ya  _ **like**_  it!"

Indeed, after a few seconds, a loud crack sounded out from his fist, and Rath opened his hand with a shit-eating grin on his face to show a cracked grip tester handle, still showing a display of 645 kilograms from its untouched screen.

"What's with Kirihara?" murmured Ashido, Kirishima grinning beside her with his own score of 545 kilograms, "it's like he's a completely different person!"

Kendou rubbed her chin as Rath transformed back into Kyosuke, who was still grinning as he handed his damaged grip tester to a robot. "Maybe some of his aliens influence his personality."

With the repeated side-steps, it was a simple matter for Kyosuke to transform into Fasttrack once more and perform the test- he had amazing reflexes; and when he was Fasttrack, he felt like he had a permanent adrenaline/caffeine rush, which was perfect for this sort of thing. He didn't come first- that honour went to a rather unsavoury boy called Minoru Mineta- but he was second, with Bakugou coming a close third.

The ball throw passed by eventfully, though Kyosuke did not participate, having already done so as Humungosaur. He was actually grateful for the opportunity- it gave him a chance to observe the rest of his classmates'- especially Yaoyorozu and Todoroki's- Quirks.

Yaoyorozu seemed to have some sort of Creation Quirk, what with how she made a cannon to shoot her softball in the air for a score of 2980.3 metres; higher than anyone's besides Kyosuke's himself, and Uraraka's, who simply made the ball float with her Quirk for a score of infinity. Kendou also did well, getting a respectable 698.9 metres as her score, and Bakugou edged her out slightly with a score of 702.5 metres.

Todoroki's Quirk was intriguing; ice emerged from his body to propel the ball up into the air until a distance of 678.2 metres. For the son of Endeavour to have an ice Quirk was confusing to say the least. His hair colour indicated that he could control  _some_  heat-related element- people just didn't have that sort of hair for no reason (Kyosuke self-consciously ran a hand through his own)- but he wasn't displaying it at all. Weird.

The last three tests, he did in his human form, and they were definitely not as eventful as the last few. Kendou was his partner for the sit-ups and toe-touch, and they ran as a group during the endurance run, but that was it. He could see that Mineta was struggling with every one of these tests, and realized that he was the most likely to get expelled.  _'Still,'_  he thought, as he ran with Kendou beside him, setting a fast pace for Kirishima and Ashido, who were behind him _, 'it's not like he doesn't have potential. Hopefully, Aizawa-sensei won't expel him even if he comes last.'_

After the endurance run was over (Iida came in first, with Asui and Bakugou coming up behind him for second and third place respectively. Kyosuke came in at around sixth or seventh place himself) they all assembled in front of Aizawa-sensei, who displayed a holographic screen for all of them to see. "Here are your rankings for the Quirk Assessment Test."

Kyosuke was pleasantly surprised to see his name at the very top of the list (Kendou and Kirishima elbowed him in his sides for it) with Yaoyorozu coming second and Todoroki coming third. Kendou and Kirishima had tied for sixth place, and Ashido wasn't too far behind them at eighth place.

As he had predicted, last place was Mineta, who looked traumatised and horrified as the others looked at him with pity, disdain, or apathy. Aizawa dismissed the screen and said, "By the way, I was lying about the expulsion."

 _What_.

A grin formed on the raggedy hero's face. "It was a logical ruse to make you perform at your highest potential!"

Kyosuke and his friends were dumbstruck, as were most of the students, though Yaoyorozu just looked at them with mild incredulity on her visage. "Of course, it was a lie."

' _We didn't notice!'_  rang throughout the brains of every student present. Mineta seemed to be crying with relief, snot and tears dribbling down his face. Many shied away from him in disgust, though some, including Aizawa-sensei, just ignored him.

"That's all for today. You may return to your classroom." Aizawa said, stowing away his tablet and walking towards the robots, presumably to deactivate them or send them on their way. Kyosuke made to leave, but then his teacher's voice called out his name for the second time that day.

"Although, Kirihara. Come with me." The man's eyes seemed to bore through him and stare into his soul. It was quite unnerving, and the fact that this very man had personally called Kyosuke out did not make him feel better.

"Are you going to be okay?" Kendou asked softly, gripping his arm gently while Kirishima and Ashido watched with worry in their eyes. The boy tried to smile at his concerned friends, to try and reassure them. "I'll be okay. You guys should probably go."

After they left, Kyosuke faced Aizawa-sensei warily, unsure of what the man was planning to do. Obviously, he had been held back because of the Omnitrix- he had not mentioned it to any of the faculty or even said something about it when he had been asked to write down the details of his Quirk. While yes, he'd filled out the entry form before he'd got the Omnitrix, but he could have still written a letter or an e-mail to inform U.A about the device.

Was Aizawa-sensei going to punish him for not revealing the full extent of his powers beforehand?

"Relax, Kirihara," came a dry voice. Kyosuke started, jerking back slightly. Aizawa-sensei watched him with slight amusement playing in his eyes, before speaking once more. "You told us in the entry form that your Quirk allowed you to keep your hair clean, free of dandruff and lice, and looking like a Super Saiyan's, without the use of any external agent. While that may be true, it clearly doesn't tell us everything you can do. We need to update that information accordingly."

Kyosuke sighed in relief, before following his teacher inside the building. They climbed several flights of stairs before heading down a hall, and before he knew it, they were standing outside a dark brown, oaken door that said, on a gold plaque, "Principal's Office."

Aizawa knocked sharply on the door, and almost immediately, a cheerful, high voice said, "Come in!"

He opened the door, and Kyosuke found himself staring at…a mouse? A bear? Whatever it (he? She?) was, it was wearing a vest with a red bowtie, had white fur and intelligent beady black eyes, with the right one having a scar covering it. It was sitting on a high-backed crimson chair, behind a brown desk. A white placard that said 'Principal Nedzu' was on it.

The white-haired boy spluttered. "P-Principal?!"

" _Yes_!" the animal-human-thing said cheerfully in English, before slipping into Japanese. "Am I a mouse? A bear? A dog? The answer is…the principal!"

Aizawa-sensei took over to explain. "Nedzu-kouchou is a rare example of an animal which has developed a Quirk; in his case, it is extremely high intelligence, high enough for him to have retained the post of Principal of U.A for almost seventeen years."

"And many more, hopefully!" laughed Nedzu, straightening his bowtie. It was only then that Kyosuke realized that they were not the only ones in the room; Present Mic and an extremely alluring woman that he recognized as the 18+ Only Hero, Midnight, were also sitting in the room on chairs adjacent to Nedzu-kouchou's desk, and were eyeing him with interest. Kyosuke blushed violently when Midnight winked at him, one leg over the other in a pose that left little to the imagination.

"Kirihara-kun! Please take a seat." Nedzu waved him over to a free chair, next to one Aizawa-sensei was already sitting in. Kyosuke gulped slightly before sitting down- he was positioned such that he was facing the principal directly.

"Would you like some tea? Maybe some coffee?" inquired the hyper-intelligent animal, pouring out some green liquid for himself before offering it to him. Kyosuke, in an endeavour to be polite, said, "Tea is fine. Thank you, kouchou-sensei."

Nedzu smiled. "Well, Kirihara-kun, I am sure you already know why you are here today. That watch on your wrist is a very fascinating device, indeed. Quite unlike anything we have seen on Earth, let alone Japan! Might I ask who gave it to you?"

"This device is called the Omnitrix, sensei," Kyosuke responded promptly, sipping his cup of tea (it tasted excellent- green tea and honey and something else…cloves?) He had been expecting a conversation like this to happen eventually whether or not he informed the U.A staff of the Omnitrix before the entrance test, and had already decided that he would hide nothing and tell his teachers everything he could truthfully. "It was given to me by a man who called himself Gyakusetsu-sensei."

"Mic," said Nedzu immediately, and Present Mic pulled out a phone and typed on it, presumably looking up the name.

"I don't know why he gave it to me, or how he even got it,"- Aizawa and Nedzu exchanged glances at this- "but one day, I was returning home, and there he was, sitting in my chair. I tried to ask him how he had got there, but all he did was clamp this on my wrist, telling me that I would soon understand and that I should use this wisely. I can't take it off, either."

"Gyakusetsu-sensei, you said?" asked Mic, looking up from his device. At Kyosuke's nod, he continued, "This person, whoever he is? He doesn't exist. I've tried to analyse everything I could, including the possibility of he being someone using the name Gyakusetsu as an alias…but no luck. No one- civilian, hero or villain- has used Gyakusetsu as a name before, fake or otherwise."

Kyosuke nodded. "I tried looking him up, too…"

Nedzu looked contemplative. "Okay, Kirihara-kun. For the time being, we will consider the Omnitrix as your Quirk for simplicity's sake, especially since you can't take it off. Later, if you are comfortable with it, we shall perhaps run tests to see if it is possible to take it off or learn more about it, but that will be all. We shouldn't fiddle with such high-level technology just yet, I believe."

That made sense. Kyosuke nodded once more.

"Also, I want a full report of the number of aliens you can turn into, as well as their powers and weaknesses; if only so we can help you improve, Kirihara-kun. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but we require this information. Please understand."

Kyosuke nodded for the third time.

"That is all, Kirihara-kun. You may leave."

As Kirihara left the room, the four persons present there were all silent for several moments. Then Midnight, leaning forward with a serious expression on her face, said, "What do you make of that story, Nedzu-kouchou?"

Nedzu leaned back in his chair, stroking his chin reflectively with a paw. "He seemed to be telling the truth, at the very least, so I don't expect to see him here again for the time being. But I'm somewhat curious about this Gyakusetsu character."

"Gyakusetsu is an odd choice for an alias, or even a name, right?" said Present Mic thoughtfully. "I mean, the only set of kanji reading 'Gyakusetsu' that I know of are 逆説, and those kanji mean 'paradox' in English."

" _Paradokkusu_?" asked Midnight, surprised. "That can't be just any random choice of alias. Perhaps that could lead us to the nature of his Quirk, if nothing else?"

"Yes, yes, I think that is it," said Nedzu, looking suddenly excited and leaning forward. "I am sure of it now- this Gyakusetsu-sensei is a time traveller, of some sort."

Aizawa looked at him. "What makes you say that, Nedzu-kouchou?"

The animal genius grinned. "Think about it. This person calls himself by the noun of 'gyakusetsu', or 'paradox' as Yamada-kun pointed out. As Kayama-san said, this cannot be just any alias or name; it is definitely a direct reference to his Quirk. If he is a time traveller, that would explain how he acquired the Omnitrix; he could have taken it from the future- when we  _could_  have made such a device- and travelled into our time to give it to Kirihara-kun."

"That does make sense," admitted Aizawa. "But why would he travel back in time to give it to Kirihara?"

"It could have been for any reason," Nedzu shrugged, while finishing his cup of tea. "However, the boy is resourceful and skilled, and he has the drive to be a great Hero. I feel it is just as well Gyakusetsu gave the Omnitrix to him, instead of to anyone else. What do you think, Aizawa-kun?"

The Erasure Hero nodded, which stunned the other two teachers present- Aizawa  _didn't_  hand out such praise for a student on the very first day of school. "Kirihara has a great amount of potential. Even though he was embarrassed and uncomfortable at being on such a high pedestal compared to his classmates due to him breaking the school record, he never held back his powers, not even once. He was truly trying his best. It's not even a week past the first semester, and already he's imbibed the school motto of Plus Ultra. Of course, a large part of his high results is due to his Omnitrix, but it's no different from having a powerful Quirk. He has the drive, the skill, and the potential to be something great. Hopefully, he doesn't let it go to waste."

As Aizawa's long-winded speech came to an end, he grinned. "Well, at least this year's Hero Course has plenty of interesting characters. It looks like I have my work cut out for me, right?"

Nedzu nodded. "Aizawa-kun, Kayama-san, Yamada-kun; dismissed."

* * *

 

The curriculum for the Hero Course was spilt into seven subjects. English with Present Mic, Foundational Hero Studies with All Might (which, obviously, was the most anticipated class of the week), History with Midnight, Math with Ectoplasm, Social Studies with Snipe, Modern Literature with Cementoss, and Science with Aizawa-sensei, who was also apparently the Erasure Hero, Eraserhead. Most of the class called him Aizawa-sensei anyway, unlike the rest of the teachers, whom they referred to by their hero names.

It was also significant to note that U.A didn't just go Plus Ultra when teaching heroics- the curriculum was extremely tough and demanding even when it came to normal subjects like English and History. For example, while Present Mic was a rather easy-going guy when it came to interacting with him outside the classroom, he became much more on edge inside it, which was difficult to cope with, especially since his subject was so dreary and monotonous. This, of course, made for an exceptionally demanding and intense hour of school. Kyosuke still had the shudders from an essay that he had submitted for homework; Present Mic had graded it so harshly that he had gotten fourteen out of twenty, even though it would have yielded him at least four more marks back in Orudera.

Speaking of homework- Midnight had assigned them a large number of practice questions right on the very first week. It had taken him so long to finish that he'd ended up going to bed at midnight…which had probably been her intention when she'd assigned that homework. Kyosuke had had to quit his part-time job, such was the pressure upon them.

Today, however, was a class many of them were looking forward to. Foundational Hero Studies, taught by All Might. Every single member of 1-A was shaking with excitement at meeting the Number One Hero, let alone being taught by him. For his part, Kyosuke was a little more muted, given that he was quite…apprehensive about All Might's teaching skill.

' _Only a few months ago, he had never taught a single class to any student. Now he's the Foundational Hero Studies instructor at U.A, a place which_ prides _itself on its Foundational Hero Studies. I wonder whether he'll be able to handle it.'_

The thought that the Number One Hero couldn't handle something eventually cried blasphemy to Kyosuke, so he shoved it to the back of his mind. However, it remained here, festering and growing with his doubts of All Might's capacity for teaching.

Soon, he heard a stomping outside the door, which sharpened his attention and anticipation. Teaching skill aside, All Might was All Might, and he couldn't say that he wasn't excited to meet the Symbol of Peace. A moment later, the door was thrown open, and All Might strode into the room. "I am…coming through the door like a normal person!" he shouted, his smile wide and bright, wearing a red costume with yellow gauntlets underneath a navy cape decorated with silver stars and stripes.

The students all gasped admiringly as one. "Ahh! It's really All Might!" squealed the invisible girl who'd placed just above Mineta in the Quirk Assessment Test, Hagakure.

"Is that his Silver Age costume?" roared Kirishima in excitement. "So manly!"

"Oh, I remember! That's the one he wore when he fought Mystery Pool!" This voice was one Kyosuke could not pinpoint.

"All right, all right, settle down!" said All Might, not without a hint of indulgence in his voice. "Today, we shall be doing… **battle training**!" He ended his statement by pulling a placard out from the teacher's desk that read BATTLE in red letters. "I have brought your costumes from the support department, and they are waiting outside, for you!" As if on cue, several robots wheeled themselves inside, each carrying a box filled with silver suitcases. "Put them on in the locker rooms and assemble in Ground Beta. I shall be waiting there!"

All Might then left the room, prompting Kyosuke and the rest to come over and pick up their costumes. When they had been asked to submit potential costume designs after their first day of school, the white-haired boy had been somewhat indecisive. After all, his clothes stayed onto his human form when he transformed, leaving him without any in his alien forms. The fact that he was essentially naked in alien form was a little weird, when he really thought about it, but he didn't allow himself to do so.

As he had little fashion sense anyhow and was completely blank when it came to costume ideas, he decided to use Google. It yielded him several helpful sites about costume selection, which, in a nutshell, advised him to pick a costume that enhanced his Quirk, looked good, and was durable.

As no sort of costume could enhance the Omnitrix, he paid more attention to the latter two pieces of advice. The sites further advised him to pick a primary and secondary colour for his costume and have it made out of either Kevlar fibres, leather, metal, nylon or spandex. Picking the colours was easy- black and green- and since he wanted a mix of agility and protection if the Omnitrix timed out, or if he wanted or needed to fight in his human form, he picked spandex, nylon and leather for the materials, but that was it. He had no designs or anything pertaining to them in mind.

So, he had written in his application that his Omnitrix 'allows me to change into several forms that render clothes unnecessary, as they remain on my human form. Please give me something that allows me to fight in my human form if the Omnitrix stops working or times out' and included his preferred colours and materials. Therefore, he was the only one in his class that had no idea how his costume would look, except for its colour scheme.

He picked up his case and walked out of the class to the locker rooms. When he reached, along with the other boys, he tentatively opened his case. His face broke out in a wide grin as he ran his eyes over the leather and nylon  _masterpiece_  sitting in it.

It started with a green, half-sleeved nylon shirt that clung to his body and covered his neck, but not uncomfortably. It had metal braces on its sleeves and was interspersed with Kevlar fibres, so that it was stretchy and durable at the same time. Then over that came a black leather breastplate with steel fixings and padded pauldrons attached. It slipped on easily and moved with his breathing, and had neon green stripes on it to look like the Omnitrix symbol (despite the triangles being black, not green), which was still quite nice.

His pants were white with green accents, baggy and designed to be tucked into his boots, which were black and made of steel and leather. Lastly came gauntlets that went to his elbows, which were made of nylon and had steel affixed onto them, with the left one designed to accommodate the Omnitrix.

It was a simple affair, but it looked good. And best of all, Kyosuke felt like a  _hero_  in it.

Grinning slightly, he stepped out, Kirishima (in a crimson affair that left his torso exposed) at his side. Given that the boys were far more in number, the girls had finished first and were assembled outside already. Kyosuke was quite surprised to see that the girls had chosen outfits that were somewhat revealing and made of spandex, mostly. Yaoyorozu was the finest example of this- she was clad in a red leotard and literally nothing more. Granted that her Quirk was Creation, this made sense, reasoned Kyosuke. Besides, it spoke volumes of the girls' self-confidence, so he didn't feel the need to point this out.

Soon, he spotted Ashido and Kendou, who were waving to him and Kirishima with grins on their faces. Ashido, he noticed, was wearing a sleeveless purple and turquoise bodysuit with a camouflage pattern that ended in purple boots. She also wore a small fur-lined tan jacket without sleeves and a white eye mask.

Kendou also had an eye mask on (although it was black, not white), but the similarities between their costumes ended there. She had on a blue Chinese gown he recognized as a  _qipao_ , over which she wore a black…corset? At least, that's what Kyosuke thought it was called. She also had a loose brown belt behind which she wore a white satchel. Navy boots and black spats completed her costume.

He also couldn't help noticing that the two girls looked  _extremely_  pretty in their costumes, as well, and he looked down at his feet with pink cheeks. At least, until they came over to the two boys.

"Kirihara, your costume is boring," Ashido commented brutally. Kendou tried to defend him by saying, "It  _looks_  okay. Besides, he doesn't really  _need_  a costume."

"Fair," agreed Ashido, prompting Kyosuke to explain the reasoning behind the simple design and materials- he needed to fight without his Omnitrix too, after all, he said. Later, they turned on to Kirishima, laughing slightly at his choice of baring his torso. Kirishima simply banged his chest, proclaiming that it was 'super manly' and all of that. While his three friends argued, Kyosuke surveyed the rest of his classmates' costumes covertly.

Iida and Aoyama wore suits of armour that looked somewhat over-the-top, but Kyosuke was sure they had some sort of function. Well, maybe not in Aoyama's case, except perhaps to look flashy, he amended silently. Bakugou had on an explosive ensemble, having a black face mask with an explosion-shaped knot, a black sleeveless top with an orange X on it, and most distinctively, two massive grenade-shaped gauntlets. He wondered as to the reason behind that. The rest of them didn't stand out as much, at least to him.

All Might stood before them all, a proud smile on his face. "They say the clothes make the man. Today, all of you look like heroes!"

They cheered in response.

"All right." All Might walked over to where three massive boxes were placed and pushed one in front. "All of you shall pick out one chit from this box. It has a letter on it from A to J. Whichever one of you picks the same letter ends up on the same two-person team, and they shall be randomly matched up against one another in a 'heroes vs. villains' scenario! It's like the entrance exam, but you won't be facing a robot, you'll be facing an actual person."

"How will wins be determined?" asked Yaoyorozu, putting up her hand.

"Can we beat all of 'em up, anyway?" demanded Bakugou, which made Kyosuke shake his head.

"Will there be a threat of expulsion like with Aizawa-sensei?" Uraraka said worriedly. She was clad in a pink and white bodysuit with an astronaut helmet, noted Kyosuke.

"How will the heroes and villains be selected?" Iida put up a hand while speaking loudly from inside his helmet.

"Isn't my cape crazy?" Aoyama said smarmily, displaying a purple, glittery piece of cloth behind his armour.

"…I'll answer all of your questions...!" All Might said, looking extremely strained, after which he opened…a guidebook?  _'Shit. I didn't actually expect that All Might's teaching skill was low enough that he would need to rely on_ guidebooks _to tell him what to do.'_  This thought was fairly disrespectful to the Number One Hero, however, so he put it aside.

"Eh-hem…the heroes and villains will be determined when I pick out a letter from the other two boxes. Whichever one I pick from the red box is the hero team, and the one I pick from the blue box is the villain team.

"The scenario is as follows- two villains have put a bomb inside a building, and it will blow up in fifteen minutes. Two heroes have been assigned to retrieve the bomb, which essentially just means tapping it.

Both teams shall be provided with capture tape, which they may use to restrain their opponents. If a student is caught with the tape, they will be out. If the villain team immobilises the hero team with the capture tape, or prevents them from touching the bomb within the time limit, they win. If the hero team retrieves the bomb,  _they_  win!"

"The students can engage in combat, but they mustn't go too far. I will make the call on that." Bakugou looked satisfied anyway. "And yes, Young Aoyama, your cape looks fabulous!"

"Well, that's it. Please pick out your letters," finished All Might as he walked over to the red and blue boxes.

Team A- Kyosuke Kirihara and Momo Yaoyorozu. Kyosuke was okay with that, though he was somewhat apprehensive about Yaoyorozu- she had been scrutinizing him since day one, after all. At least she was smiling at him, so that was good.

Team B- Ochako Uraraka and Kyouka Jirou. He didn't know what to make of this one, but they looked satisfied.

Team C- Mina Ashido and Minoru Mineta. He was worried that Ashido would fall victim to Mineta's perverted antics, but he was sure she could handle him.

Team D- Katsuki Bakugou and Shouto Todoroki. Kyosuke really hoped he wasn't going to be up against that one.

Team E- Eijirou Kirishima and Denki Kaminari. Ranged  _and_  melee attack? That would be troublesome…

Team F- Itsuka Kendou and Tenya Iida. While Kyosuke was internally rooting for his friend, he couldn't help but feel that her abilities would count for nought against Iida's frightening speed. Still, he was sure that they would work out an effective plan.

Team G- Mashirao Ojiro and Mezou Shouji. He knew that Ojiro was a martial artist like Kendou, but he knew next to nothing about Shouji, except for the fact that he was really strong, and could grow body parts from his six arms.

Team H- Tsuyu Asui and Fumikage Tokoyami. An animal-based team? He didn't know what to make of it, really.

Team I- Yuuga Aoyama and Kouji Kouda. His opinions on that team were the same as those on B- he didn't know Kouda's Quirk, after all.

Team J- Tooru Hagakure and Hanta Sero. Hagakure was worrying, as she was invisible, and Sero could restrain people effectively. A good team if not slightly incompatible, surmised Kyosuke.

"Now," declared All Might grandly, rummaging in the red and blue boxes, "to decide the heroes and villains!"

He pulled out a red ball marked A, and a blue one marked D.

Kyosuke Kirihara and Momo Yaoyorozu were the heroes. Katsuki Bakugou and Shouto Todoroki were the villains. His blood turned to ice and dread flooded his belly thick as molasses.

 _'Oh, no,'_  he thought, wanting to run as far away and as fast as possible. So, in essentials, he was surrounded by people who wanted to literally dissect him, or turn him over from the inside out. Slowly, he turned to watch Bakugou and Todoroki glaring at him murderously.

If there were two boys who were extremely strong and intelligent, both wanting to  _murder_  him, both having powerful Quirks, facing him in a mock battle, while he had a teammate who apparently  _also_  saw him as a potential rival…there was really only one word he could use to encapsulate the situation.

" _Fuck_."

 

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment or kudos if you liked my story or want to critique it. Just no flames please!


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